


The Crescent City

by Beskar_Babe, Mandosgirlfriend, Mommy_mando



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angry Din Djarin, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Porn With Plot, Protective Din Djarin, Smut, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, daddy Mando, keep the helmet on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:08:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29362266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beskar_Babe/pseuds/Beskar_Babe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandosgirlfriend/pseuds/Mandosgirlfriend, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mommy_mando/pseuds/Mommy_mando
Summary: You are on the run. From what? Well, your toxic, abusive arranged husband, that is. You take the plunge and escape from Germany to New Orleans, Louisiana, a place so random you hope you won't be found. Things seem to be going well when you meet a mysterious, handsome man named Mando, a man who would seemingly do anything for you. And when you find out that your ex has sent his men to track you down and return you to his home, you will see in action if Mando would indeed do anything for you.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You, Mando/reader, Mando/you, Pedro Pascal/Reader, Pedro Pascal/You, The Armorer (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader, The Mandalorian/Reader, The Mandalorian/You
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	1. On the Run

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Mando reader insert AU fic written by me (Candice) and my two coworkers. It's our first collaborative piece, and it has been really fun to write. 
> 
> Authors:
> 
> @Beskar_Babe 
> 
> @Mandosgirlfriend
> 
> @mommy_mando 
> 
> Trigger warnings: 
> 
> Physical/verbal/mental/emotional abuse. There is talk of the reader character being abused in their past.
> 
> Instance of attempted implied r*pe. Small instance that is stopped quickly, and nothing happens. (Chatper: The Double Dealer) 
> 
> SMUT. There will be smut. As for specific tags, that will be listed here as we go. 
> 
> Socials: 
> 
> You can connect with @Mandosgirlfriend: @candice_knows_best on Tiktok and @mandosgirlfriend on Instagram.  
> The co-writers do not wish to share this info at this time. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

Chapter 1:  
On the Run

The hot water rained down on you searing your skin. Despite the events of the last couple of days, you felt yourself relax—if even just a little. Your muscles slowly started to release the tension that they’d been harboring for the last three days. Your mind lingered on your current situation. 

It was a situation that you never could have imagined you’d end up in. After two years of toxicity and abuse, you’d finally executed what you thought to be the perfect escape plan. Wait for the business trip that you refused to go on due to you being “sick.” Once Traeger boarded his flight at the airport, and you knew he was well on his way to Los Angeles and would be gone for the next week and a half, you began to sneak around your own house gathering the necessities to make the journey from Munich to New Orleans, which included raiding Traeger’s office safe for cash. 

Of course Traeger would not be so careless as to leave you at home unguarded. You were, afterall, his most prized possession. He’d left behind a staff of five guards to ensure that you stayed put. You knew at this hour they would think that you were asleep. This meant that they would surely be engrossed in their third bottle of Glenfiddich and too far gone to take note of you slipping out of your second story bedroom window and shimmying down the latticework in your periwinkle negligee. You gasped in pain when you smacked your arm against the brick wall of the house. A small reminder of the “loving” husband you were in such a hurry to leave behind. 

See, to have known Traeger Schulz was to love him. Anyone who came into contact with him would tell you he was an astounding man. He was as clean cut as one could get, with a killer business mind and killer smile to match. One would have never thought that the horrors you could describe in such detail had ever happened. You knew exactly the type of “man” he was behind closed doors, and you were ready for the world to know it, too. He would say the most grotesque things to you things to you when nobody was around and just treated you like you were nothing more than arm candy he could parade around town. And maybe that was what was expected from your arrangement, but you had finally made your mind up weeks ago that you would find a way to leave his sorry ass. 

After putting up with his abusive bullshit and nasty attitude for almost two years, you finally decided to put your needs above his holier than thou public relations tactics you’d become accustomed to. No more parading you around to various red carpet events, showing you off as if you were some prized animal. No more pretenses of being involved in a perfect, loving marriage, or having to strategically plan your outfits to hide the various bruises and marks that were given to you the night before. Most of all, you would no longer have to bear witness to the sweat shops that housed various workers from all walks of life getting yelled at for not weighing and packaging the cocaine correctly that he laundered through the facade of his internationally acclaimed law firm.

After running through the garden, you hastily made your way to the back gate of the property where the cab was waiting. The driver greeted you, and slightly raised his eyebrows in suspicion. It was safe to say that he was curious about the girl scantily dressed escaping from the back of Traeger Schulz’s estate. He knew better than to ask questions, though. Anyone that knew Traeger knew that you didn’t ask questions about him or the various affairs--both business and pleasure--that he was involved in. 

You finally settled into your flight. You found yourself occupying a seat in coach class, something you hadn’t experienced, well, ever. The twinkling lights of Germany faded into a stormy sky behind you, and you sighed a breath of relief. The flight attendant passed by and dropped your glass of Woodford Reserve Baccarat on the tray in front of you. You finally decided to relax and allow yourself the small pleasure of enjoying a drink before drifting into a restless slumber. 

The journey from Munich to Atlanta was relatively uneventful, much to your surprise. But of course things never go as planned. Upon your arrival in Atlanta, you realized that there was a lengthier delay than you cared for from your connecting flight to New Orleans. You quickly ran to the bus ticket counter and purchased a ticket from Atlanta to New Orleans. 

Never would you have thought that you would find yourself riding a public bus let alone sitting beside some grimey 50-something year old man. He kept looking you up and down, and you could instantly tell he’d been deep in the bottle before boarding the vehicle. You quickly checked your bag to make sure that TSA had left the mace right where you packed it in the first place. 

“Well, this just fucking sucks,” you mumbled under your breath, looking around at the motley crew of people occupying the rows. You found solace knowing that in seven hours you would be arriving at your destination.

You must have been in the heart of New Orleans. Upon stepping off the bus at Decatur Street, you heard the sound of jazz music floating in the air. 

Your hair was matted from your transatlantic journey as you walked down St. Ann Street in your dingey, ripped negligee. You couldn’t imagine the thoughts that ran through everyone’s mind as you walked past in search of a safe place to lay your head for at least the night. You weren’t certain about what to do next, but at least you weren’t with Traeger. 

You had just begun to believe that you had finally escaped his grip when a figure resembling him darted out in front of you and stopped you in your tracks. Upon second glance you realized it wasn’t him. It was just some drunk guy on his way through the French Quarter, and just for a moment, you were able to breathe easier. You continued scouting out hotels that appeared to be cheap enough for a brief stay. 

The Place d’Armes Hotel sign loomed up ahead, and you thought that would be the perfect place to lay low and finally get the rest your weary body craved.  
It was a humble looking Spanish and French style historical building that had a lot of charm. It seemed like a place that would be low key enough to keep Traeger’ suspicions at bay if he were to find that you were in New Orleans, though you were not sure that he would ever suspect you came here. 

You walked through the doors eyeing the quaint decor. There was a small crowd of people in the lobby as it was a Friday evening, and people were coming in for the weekend. You hoped you could secure a room. As you made your way to the hotel check in desk, you were shocked by the jolt of a shoulder slamming into yours. You tumbled forward a couple steps, looking ahead to see the frame of a tall man shuffling through the small crowd. You were getting real tired of all these men scaring the shit out of you. You hear what you could only assume was a mumbled apology for almost knocking you to the ground as he sauntered away. 

You scoffed and rolled your eyes, so unwilling to deal with rudeness right then. 

You had gotten a modest room for a good price and unpacked your few bags. And here you were now. In a shower in a foreign country in a city you knew nothing about. 

The shower was quite a bit smaller than what you had been accustomed to, but it would certainly suffice. You replayed the events of the last 48 hours in your mind as you stepped out of the steamy shower, reaching for the bottle of cheap bourbon you’d purchased at the gift shop down the street. It definitely wasn’t your favorite, but it would definitely achieve the results you were aiming for. After downing the first glass, you decided to get dressed and made yourself look presentable. You decided on searching for something to eat as the empty pit of your stomach reminded you that you hadn’t eaten much in the past 48 hours. Though you didn’t know much about New Orleans, you did know that it had good food. 

When you left the hotel, you headed towards what you could only assume to be the heart of French Quarter nightlife in hopes of finding food, and possibly a little more for entertainment. A night out sounded like a pretty good distraction from all of the recent events that had taken place. 

Bourbon Street was unlike any other place you’d been. Music floated across the air from all directions, neon lights illuminated the street for as far as the eye could see. Across the street, you could see a small crowd gathering around a man playing the drums on a set of odd and end pots, pans, and buckets while his associates danced. People were happy to throw spare change and a few of their dollar bills into their tip bucket. Further ahead of you, you could see a perimeter had been roped off in the middle of the street. A crew of men were unloading what appeared to be a makeshift dance floor and some sound equipment. 

You jumped at the feeling of someone grabbing your arm out of nowhere to get your attention. Your head snapped over hoping not to see your overbearing husband. 

When you turned around, you were relieved to simply see an older man propped up against the wall. He looked at you with sad eyes. He was wearing clothes that were too big for him and a pungent smell surrounded the air around him. His shoes were worn and had holes in them. He slowly extended a cup to you, and you realized what he wanted without him even having to ask. You reached into your purse, pulled out a crisp one hundred dollar bill and placed it in the man’s free hand. He looked at you astonished. As you began to walk away, you wished him well.

As you continued down the street, a sign caught your eye along with an irresistible smell. You looked up and saw the words Saints & Sinners displayed. 

Well, this couldn’t have been anymore ironic, but you figured it suited the circumstances. You hurriedly entered the restaurant and waited to be seated. 

The food definitely wasn’t gourmet by any means, but it got the job done. You really didn’t want to turn in for the night, so you decided to go to the nearest bar you could see. You could really use a few more drinks after the day you’d had. 

You found yourself seated at a corner table of the courtyard, two hurricanes deep at Pat O’Brien’s--whatever that was. You took another long sip and couldn’t help but wonder what they put in these things to make them so damn good. 

As you finished off your third glass, you glanced up, doing a double take when you noticed an astonishingly familiar figure standing at the garden bar, coolly sipping whiskey out of a low ball glass.

It was the guy who had so rudely ran into you at the hotel earlier. That moment was still bothering you.

Before you had a chance to change your mind, you were up walking across the courtyard with the intent to accost this man the way he had done to you earlier that evening.

Before you lost your nerve, you dropped your shoulder and slammed into him, knocking his drink to the floor. 

“What the hell!?” he raised his hands, stepping back to look at the now shattered glass on the ground. “What’s your problem?”

“Just thought I’d show you what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a hard one,” you said proudly as if you were looking at a piece of your own artwork. 

You finally focused your attention to the man’s face. 

He looked a little weathered, but not in an unattractive way. You could just tell he had been through a lot. He looked to be maybe in his mid forties. His tanned skin was marked with lines and texture, but it gave his face character. His hair was longer, a medium brown. It was curly and framed his face well. Traces of dark facial hair to match could be found along his chin and very chiseled jawline with a groomed mustache, and he had dark umber eyes that were staring back at you with intensity and one eyebrow raised, clearly waiting for further explanation of the event that had just transpired. He was dressed casually. Dark jeans, a white t-shirt, and a jean jacket accentuated his clearly toned body, lean body. You realized you were staring. 

Your eyes snapped back up to his. “You--uh, you shoulder checked me at that hotel earlier. And you didn’t even say sorry.” 

His eyes narrowed as if he were trying to remember what you were talking about. 

Finally a look of realization crossed his face, features softening, and he chuckled.

“I am deeply sorry, Miss...,” he trailed off, waiting for your name.

“Don’t call me ‘miss,’” you scoffed and told him your actual name. 

He crossed his arms and leaned his lower back against the bar. “Sorry,” he said your name. His voice velvety rich, a nice baritone. “Sometimes I get a little--uh, caught up in the moment. Don’t realize I’m being rude. Please forgive me”

You were finding yourself more and more distracted by his appearance. He was so ruggedly handsome you could just scream. 

You crossed your own arms and filled the empty spot next to him, leaning over the bar hoping to get the attention of the bartender.

He turned to lean on his forearms, and you could feel his intense gaze falling on you. 

“What are you drinking?” he asked you earnestly. 

“I was drinking hurricanes, but I prefer bourbon,” you tried to keep your eyes on the young girl tending the bar, hoping she would notice you. 

“Let me get it for you. It’s the least I can do for ‘shoulder checking’ you,” he threw up air quotes as he said it. As if on demand, he lifted his head and met eyes with the bartender. She scurried over like she had been waiting for him to summon her. “Can I get two of your best bourbon?”

“Anything for you, Mando,” she said through her eyelashes, batting them flirtily. You rolled your eyes. 

You finally turned your head to face his. “Mando? Your name is Mando?”

“It’s a nickname,” his eyes fell to his hands. 

“What’s your real name?”

He shuffled on his feet. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“Ah, very James Bond of you. Very mysterious,” you sighed as you turned back to watch the girl pour the drinks. After a few moments, she set the glasses in front of you both, barely acknowledging you while she looked back up at Mando.

“Can I get anything else for you?” she was being so obvious. 

“I’m good. Thank you,” he said as he laid a one hundred dollar bill on the bar. “Close my tab.” 

You knocked back the glass, needing to be way drunker than you were to deal with the ostentatious display of fuck me energy in the room. You slammed the glass back down and let out a big breath. 

“So, you’re staying at the Place d’Armes?” you knew you were slurring your words a little, but you played it cool. 

“For the time being, yes,” his eyes seemed to be lingering anywhere but your face. It made your face burn red. His brown hair was falling over his forehead as he watched you. 

“Why are you in town?” you tried to keep the conversation going so your mind or eyes wouldn’t drift. 

“You sure do ask a lot of questions,” he tilted his head before he continued. “I just moved here. I’m looking for the perfect place. Just staying there while I find it. What about you?”

“That is none of your business,” you shot back a little more defensive than you intended. 

“Not so nice being interrogated is it?” he raised that eyebrow again. 

You pondered his question and found it to be undeniably true. Without a second thought, you quickly ordered another bourbon and knocked it back, too. 

There. That should do the trick. 

Mando gazed at you over the rim of his own glass as he finished it off with a look of surprise. 

You couldn’t help but admire him, but at the same time the thought crossed your mind that this probably wasn’t a good thing. Not this soon after leaving Traeger. But, God, he was easy on the eyes.

You could feel the effects of the alcohol you consumed taking a toll on your thought process and couldn’t help but think it best for you to head back to your room. 

“I think I’m going to turn in. Thanks for the drinks,” you mumbled as you threw some cash on the bartop to pay for that last, fateful drink. 

As you stood up from the bar you heard that smoky voice call your name.

“You shouldn’t be walking back to your hotel room alone,” said Mando, placing his own glass down on the bartop. “The French Quarter after dark can get a little sketchy, especially if you aren’t familiar with the area.”

You gave him an incredulous look. 

“Are you implying that I can’t take care of myself?”

Mando chuckled and nodded his head toward your rather empty glass, “If you take care of yourself the way you took care of that bourbon, I’ve no doubt in my mind that you’ll be fine. I was simply offering you extra peace of mind.”

That last comment made you visibly shiver, knowing all too well how much you needed the extra peace of mind.

How did he pick up on that? 

Did you look that scared?

With Traeger and his men in mind, you figured you should accept his offer to escort you back to the Place d’Armes. Surely there was no harm in that, you were both staying there anyway. He seemed like a generally good guy, but didn’t all men seem that way at first?

“Alright, yeah, whatever. Come on,” you smoothed your hair while you waited for him.

He looked over to the girl behind the bar one more time. “See you next time, Kim,” he gave her a charming smile as you two walked out together. 

It was a warm, humid night. You were walking by Mando’s side, acutely aware of his tall, wide build. 

“So, is Kim your girlfriend?” you continued your interrogation.

“Who?” Mando looked over and down at you. “Oh! The bartender?”

“Yeah,” you crossed your arms and looked forward, taking note of all of the French-Spanish architecture surrounding you. 

“No. God, no. She’s just been serving me every time I go there,” he explained, putting his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket. 

“She sure thinks she is,” you had a bit more venom in your voice than you wanted. You were just not really into the whole love thing right now. 

“You jealous?” you could hear the playfulness in his voice, but you snapped your head toward him. 

“I don’t even know you,” you narrowed your eyes. “Anyway. What do you do?”

“I've recently retired. That’s why I moved here.” 

You lifted your brows looking at his face again. “Retired? You don’t look old enough to retire.” 

He lifted his shoulders in a short shrug. “Not your typical kind of work. What about you? You owe me at least one answer to one question.” 

You sighed thinking about what to tell him. You supposed you didn’t have to lie about all of it. 

“I didn’t work. I came here from Germany,” you told the truth.

“Germany? You don’t sound German,” he seemed curious.

“I mean, I’m from here. I moved over there to be with my husband,” you were probably revealing too much.

“Oh, you’re married,” you could detect a little disappointment in his tone. 

“Ex-husband. Ex,” you reassured him. He seemed to relax.

“Sorry about that,” he looked up at the nearing familiar hotel sign. “Looks like we are here.”

“Looks like it.”

The rest of the walk to your door was silent. Maybe it was because it was late, maybe it was because you were drunk, but you could feel the tension in the air. 

Once at the door, he bid you farewell brushing your arm as you sidled by him to open your door. 

“I guess I will be seeing you around,” he said your name with that same rasp. 

“Maybe so. Have a good night, Mando,” you said as you backed into the room.

“Wait, hold on,” he suddenly said, his hand lifting a little too quickly, making you flinch. He raised his hand as if to surrender. “Hey, hey, I’m not going to hurt you. You just--” his hand moved forward slowly, pushing a lock of hair out of your face that had been sticking to your lipgloss. His fingertips were warm and calloused, the roughness contrasting well with the gentleness of the gesture. You could tell by the look and feel of his hand that whatever strange work he did, it had been hard work. You hadn’t felt such a soft touch in you weren’t sure how long. “There.” 

You swallowed hard at the tender touch as you started to shut the door. “Night.”

You slowly closed the door behind you, leaning against it as you thought about how mysterious this Mando guy was. He was definitely older than you, definitely pushing ten plus years your senior you presumed, but he surely wasn’t retirement aged. And he had said he did peculiar work. What did that mean? Such a good looking man retiring young and escaping to New Orleans? It seemed like the plot of a good action-adventure, John Wick-esque movie. Plus he was so… sexy? These thoughts plagued you with the desire to find out more about him. You needed something to occupy your days anyway.

Your plan had been so detailed and so meticulous up to the point that you found yourself in New Orleans. You figured you would find a job or something but considering you had no skills, you weren’t sure what to do. You had brought a lot of money with you, but of course one day it would run out. You surely couldn’t get in contact with your dad. He was the entire reason you were married to Traeger in the first place, and he would surely out you. You were simply going to have to play it by ear and hope for the best. 

As you undressed and settled in bed for the night, you found yourself thinking yet again about the way your arm brushed up against Mando’s.


	2. The Double Dealer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: TW:: Attempted sexual assault, nothing happens and it’s a very quick and minor instance but just letting you know.)

Your dreams were laced with nightmares of Traeger and his men chasing after you. You were running as hard as you could through the dilapidated looking cemetery you’d seen from your bus window on the way to New Orleans. 

When Traeger got his hands on you, you bolted upright in your bed, drenched with sweat and gasping for air, the morning sunlight bathing you from the window.

What in the hell was that? 

You laid on the plush, king sized mattress feeling helpless for a moment. Then last night's memories flooded your mind. 

On that note, you thought it best to get up, shower and prepare yourself for the day ahead. 

The heat of a Louisiana summer was almost unbearable compared to a German summer. You quickly realized that what you’d considered appropriate summer attire was no match for the tempestuous weather here. After all, you’d only read about the blistering summers of the Crescent City. 

Bearing that in mind, you delved into the bag of cash you’d snuck out of Traeger’s hidden office safe and decided he owed you a shopping spree in light of your current circumstances. 

As you rode the trolley car from the stop near your hotel to the Canal Place mall, your thoughts drifted back to Mando. Why did this man, you had basically only made small talk with, a man whose real name you didn’t even know, invade your mind like this? The visions of his angular and pleasing face, his long, strong hands, invaded your head, but you were pulled from your daydreams as the car jolted to a halt allowing various passengers to disembark at one of the stations along the Riverfront Line. 

Damn. Those things were convenient, but they were pugnacious compared to the luxury cars that you were used to traveling in. 

The Bienville Streetcar Station finally came into view. You stepped off the tram and ducked into the upscale mall ready to spend unreasonable amounts of money on clothes. 

You sifted through the racks at Nordstrom looking for every piece of clothing that you loved. Traeger never let you dress the way you wanted. You always had to wear whatever complemented his style and his look. Personal style just wasn’t a thing for you when you were with him. 

You still didn’t have the most solid plan about what to do until you could settle down somewhere safely away from Traeger’s men, so you planned on going out again tonight. So, you needed something hot as fuck to wear. Did you subconsciously want to look banagable in hopes that you might see Mando again? Maybe. But you also just wanted to feel nice. You weren’t looking for anything in terms of a relationship or sex or anything, and you were sure you wouldn’t for a long time, but his attention still felt nice because he was so different than what you were used to. 

You found the perfect cocktail dress. It was a fitted knee-length satin number in a beautiful deep oxblood color. It had a tasteful slit that went up to the joint at your hip and a low cut neckline with thin straps. It paired perfectly with the brand new pair of black Louboutins in the shopping bag you were holding. 

You were going to look delicious. 

After you had checked out and made your way out of the mall, you realized how incredibly hungry you were. You hadn’t eaten since last night. So, you made your way to one of the institutions of New Orleans cuisine. 

You found yourself seated at Cafe Du Monde happily munching on your food and enjoying a cup of cafe au lait when somebody plopped into the chair across from you, snatching your last beignet off of your plate.

“Hey, what the hell do you…” your breath caught in your throat when you realized who was sitting opposite you.

“If you were hungry, I could’ve ordered another plate of those, you know,” you snapped at him.

“Oh no, that’s not necessary. This one will do just fine.” He gave you a confident smile.

“Are you, like, following me or something?” you queried as you dusted the powdered sugar from your hands. 

“The French Quarter is small. I just happened to notice your pretty face on my morning walk,” he shrugged. There was a bit of powdered sugar in his mustache and the thought of licking it off crossed your mind. 

You put your mind back on the straight and narrow. 

With an eye roll, you finished off your coffee. When you reached down to grab the cash required to cover your meal, you realized that Mando was already sending your waitress off with money.

“To cover that last beignet,” he nodded toward your now empty plate. “Consider it my gesture of apology for intruding on your meal,” he said coolly. 

“Thank you,” you say as you once again catch yourself staring at his sculpted jawline and perfect physique. Why is this so hard? “You didn’t have to do that. I really don’t mind sparing one beignet.” 

“It’s nothing.” He glanced down by your feet noting the five large shopping bags at them. “That’s a humble haul you’ve got there.” 

You looked down at the bags realizing how ridiculous you must have looked with all of the bags from those high dollar boutiques. 

“I needed clothes.”

He tilted his head as he leaned back in the chair. “You didn’t bring any clothes from Germany?”

You were surprised he even remembered that tidbit. “I was in a hurry.”

“Sounds like you’re on the run,” he ran a hand through his hair. 

That hit too close for comfort. “What does it even matter to you?”

“I suppose it doesn’t. Just want to get to know you,” he exhaled. 

You were about to retort with a smart ass comment when the shrill sound of his phone ringing broke your train of thought. 

Close call. Your mind was drifting to all of the things you wanted to get to know about him. Including his alluring body. 

“Make it fast,” he demanded to the person on the other end of the phone. His demeanor was completely different from the one you had grown accustomed to. He was so demanding. It was hot.

You felt the heat instantly rise to your cheeks, embarrassed by the intimate thoughts that just ran through your mind, but you were jarred out of your thoughts by the equally shrill sound of his chair scraping across the floor as he rose from the table.

He looked at you apologetically. “I’m sorry to have to leave in such a rush. I have some business to attend to, but I hope to see you again soon?” He said it as a question, but he didn’t wait for your response. As he made his way for the exit, he turned and winked with a devilish smirk, “Thanks for the beignet. I’ll make it up to you.”

He was gone and in a hurry, too. You wondered what could have been so important. 

On that note, you grabbed your shopping bags and headed for the exit yourself. You decided to take a different route back to the hotel as to not run into him again and found yourself meandering by various shops in the Quarter. As you made your way down Toulouse Street you couldn’t help but notice a beauty salon come into view. 

You shrugged and thought to yourself, “Eh what the hell.” You thought that a change would further hide you from Traeger. Or at least help you begin to shed the identity that had been forced upon you by him. 

You entered the Mickey Nolan Salon and were seated right away in a chair.

As you slid into the chair, you told the stylist what you envisioned for your hair. He quickly went to work and your mind yet again began to wander to unseemly thoughts about Mando. You hadn’t had such a pointless crush like this since you were in high school. You had never felt anything for Traeger. As you had been arranged to marry him since you were seventeen, you resented him from the beginning. The added hate came in shortly after you had the displeasure of meeting him. 

You never understood why your dad would knowingly arrange you to marry the leader of a powerful underground cocaine ring. Well, you knew that it was solely for his monetary gain, but the pain of the realization was beyond belief. You knew an arranged marriage was in your future. All of the affluent families where you were from did it. But no one had as ruthless of a father as you. Your adoptive father had never been a morally sound man, but that transaction, and it was a transaction, shocked you to your core. Your father was known for his ruthless business attitude, but you really didn’t think you would ever be the brunt of it. 

You actually weren’t supposed to know about the laundering, but it wasn’t hard to catch on after two horrendous years with that man. At times you often found yourself wondering if he had been partaking in any of the product himself. The way he treated you was enough of an indicator, and if you would have been able to get away with it, the thought of murder may have crossed your mind on multiple occassions. You had begged your dad to help you, to find a way to get you out of it, but he refused. And it broke you. You had all but exhausted all of your resources plotting your escape. 

Two hours and tons of small talk with a stylist later, you emerged from the salon feeling like a brand new woman and looking even better. 

“Thank you so much, this looks fantastic,” you praised the stylist as you paid for the service. You gave them a warm smile as you left the establishment, your general mood and energy just significantly better than before. 

You were on your way back to the hotel when you realized that you didn’t have a phone. You had left yours in Germany so Traeger wouldn’t be able to contact you. So, you decided to get a new phone to match your new identity. After a lengthy process of setting up a new account at the phone store, you finally were reconnected with the world. 

When you neared the doorway to your room you noticed a small white paper bag on the floor in front of it. You wrinkled your brow in confusion as you picked up the small note tucked under the bag. 

Told you I’d make it up to you. 

You couldn’t help but smile as you looked in the bag and noticed a full order of beignets. 

When you entered your room, you put all of your new things away and then plopped on the bed. You thumbed through your new phone trying to set it up as close to the old one as you could. You downloaded all of your social media accounts, and the thought of looking up Mando crossed your mind. Of course, that wasn’t his real name, but maybe you could get lucky. 

You typed the only name you knew him by in the search bar, and of course you found nothing. You huffed in disappointment as you really wanted to find anything else out about him. Or at least just see a picture of him. You really enjoyed looking at him. 

Maybe he would magically run into you later like he had done before. Clearly something in the universe kept pulling the two of you closer to one another, so maybe just maybe. 

You grabbed the TV remote and flipped on the news. 

Fuck.

You saw your face flash across the screen and the panic began to set in. 

“In other news, the international heiress to the Gideon empire has mysteriously vanished from her shared home with husband Traeger Schulz. The story is developing and the Gideon and Schulz estates have had yet to make a statement,” the news anchor calmly explained. Just as you were about to turn the TV off, the news anchor’s hand flew up to her ear piece.

“Breaking news, Traeger Schulz is holding a press conference in front of the Gideon and Schulz tower in Munich.” 

The camera swapped over to a plethora of flashes and microphones. Your breath caught in your throat as Traeger’s face appeared. 

“As you are all aware by now, my wife has gone missing from our home in Munich,” he paused as if to collect his thoughts, but you took note of the way his knuckles turned white as he gripped the podium and the noticeable tension set in his jaw. 

Oh, shit. He is pissed.

“Babe, if you’re seeing this, please come home. I miss you, and I love you so much. I just want to know you’re okay,” he lied through his thick German accent following the statement with your name.

“Yuck,” you huffed with an eye roll. The very thought of hearing him say those words, much less your name, made you sick to your stomach. 

The camera flashed back to the news anchor, and you quickly turned the power off and sat in silence. Surely no one would notice you around here, especially since you had just changed your entire look. But what did this mean for you? Were people actively looking for you now? You knew it was only a matter of time, but this seemed so fast. 

You fought back the urge to throw up as your mind snapped back to the curious driver that brought you to the airport in Munich. You knew that dude was sketchy when you laid eyes on him. People would do almost anything for money. This made him the best man for the job.

Shit. You had hoped the wad of cash you’d given him would be enough to keep his silence. You had money, but not the kind of money Traeger had at his disposal. If he’d found out how you’d escaped, there would have been no hope for the driver. 

“Can’t trust anyone these days,” you said as you shook your head in disbelief. 

With that you turned off the TV and began to get ready for your night out on the town.

You definitely needed a drink to get your mind off of the news. It kept picking at your brain, worrying to no end. So, you poured a long pour of bourbon, and threw it back fast in hopes of getting your mind on anything else. When you looked over at the side table next to your bed, you were awarded with just that. 

You looked at the greasy bag of beignets, and you couldn’t help but give a half smile. You couldn’t shake the giddy feeling of someone just being so simply kind to you. And it didn’t hurt that he was one of the best looking people you had ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. You wondered what he was doing. Did he take care of whatever had him leaving in such a hurry earlier? What was his room number? He knew yours. 

You had to stop simping over this dude. It was getting out of hand. 

The evening was beginning, so you decided to get ready for your night out. Your hair was already perfectly styled, so you spent extra time on your makeup making sure that you looked like the baddie you knew you were. It was a bronzy, glowy, supermodel-esque look that would perfectly complement the dress you had specially picked for your night. 

As you slipped on your new Louboutins, you took one last look at yourself in the mirror and gave yourself a small nod of approval. Traeger would have never let you wear something like this. You couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment for taking your life into your own hands.

You glanced at the clock and decided it was a good time to head out. 

You walked down Canal Street, scanning the crowds for the face that had taken root in your nightmares. Seeing Traeger on the news really got to you, and you’d hoped that nobody would take notice of you. However, you didn’t take notice of the man that had been walking behind you for the last few blocks. 

As you turned to walk down Roosevelt Way, you felt a grimey hand wrap around your arm. Before you could make enough noise, you were pulled into an alleyway.

“Shut up, bitch,” the obscene voice growled in your ear. “As long as you’re quiet, this will be over before you know it.” You could barely see the man’s face as fear ripped through your body. On instinct you began to struggle to get away from the assailant. 

As he made a move to slap you across the face, a hand darted out, catching his mid-air.

“I don’t believe this is the way to treat a woman.” Your heart leapt at the sound of the voice.

Damn, he always showed up at just the right time.

Before you had the chance to add your opinion in on the subject, a fist came crashing across your assailant's jaw. His head snapped around and blood spattered the concrete at his feet. He fell in a limp pile at your hero’s feet. 

“What the fuck, man, what’s your--” the man on the ground was groaning when Mando kicked the shit out of him in the ribs. 

Before you could even process what happened, you were grabbed yet again, being pulled out of the alley swiftly by Mando. 

“Exactly what kind of work did you say you retired from again?” you sputtered out, a look of bewilderment on your face.

“I didn’t. Where were you headed? I seem to recall telling you that the Quarter after dark could be dangerous.” He sounded almost as if he were scolding you. 

You looked down at your feet, smoothing your dress as you walked with him. 

“Well, if you must know, I was on the way to the Double Dealer.”

When you finally looked back up, you noticed that Mando’s eyes were sweeping over you, taking notice of how the dress accentuated your body, peeking at the split that stopped at your very bare hip. 

When he noticed that you’d caught him scanning you over, he quickly looked back at you. As he took a moment to collect his thoughts, you noticed that when the light hit his eyes in just the right way it seemed as if they had golden flecks floating throughout. The intensity of his stare made an ache form between your thighs that you hadn’t felt in a long time. He had some pretty intense “fuck me eyes.”

“Funny thing is, that’s where I’m headed, too. Care to join me?”

“I guess that would be fine,” you tried to play coy.

As you entered the bar with Mando, you looked around the room to see it was a classy, speakeasy type joint. The decor was very industrial, with influences of early twentieth century entertainment. There were burlesque dancers about the establishment in beaded ensembles, quirky, hip bartenders, and equally as hip patrons to match. This place was cool as hell. 

You should have felt more shaken from the incident in the alley, but you somehow just felt generally safer with Mando at your side. He walked forward leading you to an intimate table for two in the back corner of the dark room. He waited for you to sit and followed suit after you. 

“So, I’m not buying that you aren’t following me,” you said mostly playfully as you situated yourself in the velvet chair. You crossed one leg over the other, and you caught his eyes drift to watch the movement. They quickly found your eyes again. 

A subtle smirk crossed his face. “If I were, you don’t seem to mind.” 

Before you could respond, your conversation was interrupted by a brunette cocktail waitress sauntering up to the table. She was in the obvious standard uniform for the joint, a rhinestone corseted bodysuit, fishnets, and tall stilettos. She was absolutely stunning.

She smiled big as she planted an intrusive hand on Mando’s shoulder without even acknowledging your existence. He finally broke his gaze from you and looked up at the over enthusiastic woman. 

“Hey, good looking. How are you doing this evenin’?” she said with her overtly sultry voice. 

Man, waitresses really wanted to fuck this guy. 

Of course, you did, too. But shit. 

“I’m fine. Can I get a Vieux Carre,” he trailed off looking to you for your response. 

The waitress disdainfully looked at you finally. 

“Uh, I’ll just have an Old Fashioned. Double shot, please,” you said awkwardly. The waitress all but rolled her eyes as she turned on her heel, headed to the bar to fetch your drinks. 

Across the room you could see a performer attempting to swallow a rather large sword. Your eyes drifted back to Mando. You couldn’t help but let your mind wander to what you hoped would be another particularly large sword. 

“Women seem to like you a lot,” you raised your eyebrows. 

“Is that so?” he said in a reticent manner. 

“Both times I’ve been around you some girl has been actively trying to fuck,” you gave a small shrug. “Hard not to notice.” 

“That girl was just being polite. I sense a touch of jealousy in your voice” he said with a playful grin.

“Oh, my god,” you overdramatically rolled your eyes. “You think highly of yourself, Mando.”

Before you could continue, you hear the familiar click-clack of the waitresses heels nearing your table once more. She set both drinks down in front of your pseudo-date for the evening. That hand somehow found its way back to his shoulder.

“Let me know if you need anything else, sir,” before she swayed away. 

He watched her get out of earshot and then faced you once more. “You may be right. I think she wants me.” 

You leaned forward, your cleavage spilling over the neckline of your dress. You lowkey gave him the view on purpose. You grabbed your Old Fashioned and leaned back. 

“By all means, do it. Get you some if you want her,” you feigned contentment as you took a sip, peering at him over the rim of the glass.

He chuckled lowly to himself. 

“I want other things,” he reached for his glass. You took that statement as what it was: innuendo. And you liked it a lot. 

You held your drink in your lap as you looked at him wordlessly. “Since you pretty much won’t answer any of my questions about yourself, why don’t you tell me something about yourself instead.”

He looked up at the ceiling as if he were considering what to tell you. 

“I have a dog,” he finally decided. 

You instantly perked up, “A dog!? I fucking love dogs, what’s their name?”

“His name is Grogu,” he smiled, running the pad of his finger along the rim of his glass. 

“That’s a really peculiar name, but I bet he is so cute. Is he at the hotel? Is someone taking care of him?” You were very concerned about this dog you had never met. 

“Yeah, yeah, he’s fine,” Mando waved his hand. “He’s a small pitbull. He means more to me than anything.” 

You poked out your bottom lip at the sheer cuteness. As if Mando couldn’t get any sexier you now knew that he had a soft spot for his dog. Perfect. 

“Aww,” you gushed. 

“So, you left your home with no clothes and changed your hair?” he took another long pull from his drink. 

“I didn’t think you noticed,” you suddenly felt overcome with a feeling of self-consciousness as you tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear.

“I notice everything,” he stated plainly as he relaxed into his chair and crossed one foot over his knee. 

He looked at you apprehensively and seemed to consider all of the information he’d gathered about you thus far. Shit. What if he’d seen my face on the news?

Your suspicions were confirmed when he made one simple statement.

“So, who are you hiding from exactly?” 

You swallowed thickly. “I’m not hiding from anyone.” 

You wanted the subject to change quickly. Before you could think of something else to say that Damn Waitress appeared at the table , she must have had a sixth sense for being a persistent pain in your ass. You didn't even know the woman, but you were thankful for the change in subject.

She looked directly at Mando and dropped her gaze, “Can I get you another round?” 

“Yes that would be wonderful,” you quipped back.

The waitress didn’t respond to your request, so Mando gave her the push she needed. 

“You heard her.”

Before you knew it, you both were in the thick of five drinks. 

The alcohol was taking a toll on your thought process and your ability to function. As you stood up to weave through the now crowded bar, you stumbled. 

Mando’s arms wrapped around you and kept you from face planting. You were stunned by the firmness of his grip, feeling the strong, toned muscles move against your bare back. You were pressed firmly against his broad chest. You felt that familiar slow burn creep back up. 

“Easy there, angel,” his lips were near your ear, sending a wave of excitement and chills down your spine.

“Do you call everyone that? Or are you just drunk?” you slurred. 

You tried to study his face, but found it extremely hard to focus.

“That’s not a name I use often. Let’s get you out of here,” he spun you around, a little too fast, and put his hand at the small of your back, leading you out the door. You were pretty sure you saw that bitch waitress attempt to give a little slip of paper to Mando, but, God, were you drunk. 

As the two of you neared the end of the next block, you realized that it was becoming increasingly hard for you to walk.

“Are we almost there? My feet hurt,” you whined, trying to keep up with his long strides. 

“Right around the corner,” his hand was still firmly planted on your lower back. “Can you make it?”

You covered your mouth to stifle a yawn. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.”

You were feeling brave, so you snaked your arm around his hips. “For support.”   
As you looked up, you saw the hotel sign come into view.

When the two of you made it to your door, you fumbled with your purse, struggling to get the door unlocked.

“Here, let me help you with that.” He took the plastic card from you. When the door was finally open, you leaned against the frame, tilting your head back against the wood. 

As you entered the room you opted to lounge on the bed, your back propped against the headboard. After kicking your shoes off, you realized Mando was propped up against the door frame, watching you intently.

“Care to join me for a nightcap?”

He entered the room, firmly closing the door behind him. He grabbed the bottle of cheap bourbon you’d purchased earlier in the week and poured two glasses. He passed your glass to you as he stretched across the bed next to you. 

“This is some pretty shitty bourbon,” he noted as he sat on the opposite side of the bed. 

He propped his head against the headboard and finished his glass off with one swallow. You, however, sipped at your drink, as if trying to savor every last drop.

“You seem to enjoy it,” you were trying to say the syllables correctly. 

As you placed your half empty drink on the nightstand you looked toward Mando and found him studying your every move. You saw a look of desire cross his face as his gaze lingered on the split of your dress.

“What are you looking at there?” you moved your fingers down to trace the exposed skin of your thigh. 

He didn’t speak. Instead his fingers replaced your own, the soft touch making your skin pepper with goosebumps. His face was focused, laser focused on you. He was looking in concentration, contemplating every movement. 

You grabbed his wrist gingerly and guided his fingers just under the hemline of the dress. You slid further down the bed, your back lying flat against the pillowtop of the mattress, exposing more of your skin. His fingers continued to travel upward so, so slowly, grazing over the fabric of your lace panties. He hooked his index finger underneath the elastic of the waistband as if to pull them off. He lingered there for a while, unmoving. 

“Keep going,” you whispered just audibly, sliding one strap of your dress down your shoulder. 

His eyes met yours, something regretful in them. 

Suddenly his hand was not on you anymore. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” 

He stood abruptly and you sat up, truly confounded. 

“Why? What’s wrong?” you asked as you lifted your dress strap back on to your shoulder. 

“You’re really drunk,” he said your name sternly. “I’m not going to take advantage of you like that. Get some rest.”

“I don’t want to get some rest. I want you!” you said in annoyance. 

Mando stepped forward, pressing his hand to your right cheek. “Get some rest,” he repeated. 

And with that he turned on his heel, leaving the room without a word. I 

You stared at the door in utter shock. How could he have not wanted to fuck you? You looked so fucking good, and you were throwing yourself at him. What the fuck was his problem?

You were kind of hurt, in all honesty. It was a real blow to your confidence. And you were left extremely horny. 

“Fuck that guy,” you muttered to yourself, falling back onto the bed. 

You sighed, staring at the ceiling. You needed release.

So, you took care of it yourself. And you thought about Mando the whole time.


	3. Banana's Foster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our goal is to have at least one new chapter a week!! Enjoy!

You woke up the next morning with the events of the night before still buzzing in your head. 

You rolled over, groaning, only to be hit by Mando’s scent still lingering on the pillow. You hadn’t noticed before, but he smelled like patchouli, cypress, and cedarwood. A perfect combination. The smell was intoxicating, bringing back the feelings you had the night before. 

Then you quickly remembered how he left so abruptly, and you felt a twinge of angst overcome you. Sure, he was trying to be all “gentlemanly” and stuff, but he had been drinking, too, and you knew you had looked absolutely irresistible. 

So, you were pissed. 

You had to admit that he was even more complex than you had originally thought, but somehow that made him even more appealing. 

You reached over to the nightstand to grab the remote. Flipping on the tv, you found yourself even further in annoyance as you once again heard your name. You heard the news anchor say that an investigation was underway, and they were actively searching for you in hopes of your safe return to your husband. They speculated that you may be in the United States. 

Again, you knew this was coming, but it was just baffling that they had decided to make this international news. And if anyone did find you, could they force you to go back? That didn’t seem likely. 

You decided to yet again forgo the thought of “what if” and prepare for the new day. 

You turned on the water of the shower, realizing you still had on your dress from the night before. You peeled it off of your body and hopped in. 

Upon exiting the steamy shower, you wrapped a plush towel around yourself and grabbed the phone to call down to the front desk and ask for recommendations on how you could occupy your mind today. The day before you had found yourself hoping that you would run into Mando, but you could honestly say you didn’t want to today. 

Within the next hour you were headed out the door with your sights set on a much needed spa day. The front desk attendant had recommended The Waldorf Astoria Hotel Spa saying that it was her personal favorite. So, with that you opted for a much more casual look for the day, grabbed your bag and headed out the door.

You walked through the lobby with laser focus on the door. If you stayed focused you wouldn’t notice any unwanted visitors. 

You made it to the spa and were greeted warmly by your attendant for the day. You slipped on the plush white robe and sat in a luxurious recliner with your feet soaking in some mix of oils, salts, and water. You thumbed through your phone as you relaxed. 

Your social media was littered with public posts of outcry about your needing to return home. It made you cringe seeing all of these people implore you to go back home to be with your “loving, kind husband.” You knew that these people didn’t know, but the thought of it all was as traumatic still. 

You had been here for a few days now, and you hadn’t managed to make any friends. Well, maybe Mando counted as a friend before, but surely not now. He wasn’t a man of many words, he stole your food, and he refused to take you at your hottest, so that surely didn’t constitute friendship. You were dying for socialization. Back in Munich, you did have a group of superficial, affluent housewife friends that you were allowed to see, and though there wasn’t much in terms of intellectual conversation, you craved the socialization of seeing anyone other than Traeger or the guards. 

Two hours later you emerged from the spa feeling rejuvenated, but famished. You’d heard that Central Grocery had the best muffulettas around, and you felt inclined to try it out for yourself.

The place didn’t look too magnificent, kind of run down, but the reviews were outstanding, so you walked in and planted yourself in the barstool at the back of the room. A sweet, older man walked up to help you. 

“What can I get for you, sha?” he smiled, leaning against the counter. 

“Well, I heard the muffulettas are good, so that,” you rested your arms on the tabletop. 

“A whole one?” He looked perplexed. 

“Uh, yeah. A whole one,” you said confidently. 

“Anything else?”

“Just a water, thank you,” you smiled. You needed water after last night. 

He shrugged his shoulders as he walked to the kitchen to pass your order off to the cook.

As you sat at the bar waiting for your food, you heard the bell ring announcing another person’s arrival. You craned your neck to see who was entering the room, and you noticed a seemingly normal man in seemingly normal touristy clothes, but his face was strange. The black Saints cap atop his head seemed irregular on him, his entire vibe just off. He wandered around the shop looking at different items, and you noticed that he kept glancing towards you.

Maybe you were just paranoid, but he was giving you the creeps and thoughts of the absolute worst case scenario. But in the back of your mind you knew he was probably just another visitor to town trying to grab a muffuletta. 

Speaking of muffalettas, the older gentleman laid a large circular sandwich in front of you. The thing must have had a twelve inch diameter. It was absolutely massive. 

“Jesus Christ, that’s a big sandwich,” you said in awe.

“I asked if you wanted a whole one,” he laughed. “Take it home and share with someone.”

As you dove into the muffuletta, you realized the man that entered the shop was now sitting a couple stools down from you.

Okay, now it was getting weird.

“Hey, sir,” you called to the man behind the counter, “could I get a box?”

“Of course,” he reached under the counter, pulling up a ridiculously large togo plate. “Here you go.”

You kept the strange man in your peripheral as you boxed up your lunch, eager to get the hell out of there. You left a couple twenties on the counter as you stood and scurried out of the establishment. 

As you headed down the sidewalk, you turned your head to look behind you and noticed the very same man exiting the shop scanning the crowds frantically. Fuck, was he with Traeger? How could they have pinpointed New Orleans so soon? He began to trek through the crowds, walking at a fast, steady pace headed toward you, but before he could catch sight of you, you ducked down a side street and beelined for the safety of your hotel. You ran faster than you ever had before, full muffuletta in hand. 

You finally made it to the room and locked the door quickly behind you, releasing a breath of relief. You could let yourself freak out and wonder what it was about, or you could let it go, take it as a coincidence, and move on with your life. 

After you managed to calm down some and felt somewhat safe, you figured a good way to occupy your time would be taking advantage of the beautiful pool and courtyard at the hotel. You had purchased a Gucci bikini at the mall, a high cut leg bottom with an underwired top. You figured you would keep it somewhat family friendly and threw a lace up crop top on.

The pool was full of unruly children laughing and crying and playing about, so you took a seat on one of the loungers, taking full advantage of the blaring Louisiana sun that was soon to go down.   
As you were lying there sunbathing, you couldn’t help but feel as if someone were watching you. You opened your eyes slightly, blocking the sunlight with your hand and saw a figure approaching you.

You heard a gruff voice call your name, and the realization of who the mysterious figure was hit you. Hard. 

“How are you feeling today?” Mando asked sympathetically. You noticed that he had an apologetic smile on his face.

“Fine,” you retorted. His question reminded you of the dull ache in your head this morning. You were being polite, but not cordial. 

“I tried to check on you this morning, but I guess you had already left your room by the time I got there,” he stated plainly.

“Oh, yeah. I decided that I needed some me time,” you trailed off. Memories of last night's events came rushing back. 

“I hope you got the time you needed,” he sat at the foot of the lounger. “About last night--”

“What about last night?” That was overdefensive. Oops. 

“I’m really sorry. I just…” he looked across the courtyard. “I just couldn’t do that with you like that. That’s just not the way I was raised.”

“I’m not that concerned about it,” you shrugged, lying through your teeth. 

He raised an eyebrow clearly calling your bluff. 

“Well, I was looking for you because I wanted to make it up to you. Would you be willing to come up to my suite for dinner this evening?” He had his hand planted on the lounger next to your calf, his knuckle just barely grazing your skin. 

You thought about it for a moment. You weren’t super happy with him at the moment, but he looked so good today. His waved hair was unkempt as if he had been working on something today. The white t-shirt he wore squeezed at his biceps. You were intrigued by this invitation for dinner. Also, there was the socialization you were craving. 

Finally you sighed. “What time?”

He gave you a smile. “Eight.”

“What’s your room number?”

“369,” and with that he rose from the seat and was on his way. 

With the waning sunlight, you gathered your things and headed up to your room to get changed. As you entered the room, you turned on the news channel just to keep up with everything that was going on. To your surprise, the news anchor wasn’t even talking about you. She was talking about some high level tech executive in New York City who had been caught confirming he did some pretty shitty stuff on tape. Sucks to be that guy. Traeger would never get caught. 

Though you didn’t know what to expect in Mando’s room for later, you thought it best to take another shower. After that was complete, you went to the bag of clothes you purchased picking out a bohemian style, airy, ivory colored sundress. It was casual enough, but it still showed off your best assets. 

You did your makeup very naturally, letting your hair air dry to its natural texture. You were trying to be very lowkey after you had gone all out the night before. The clock was nearing eight, so you grabbed your room key and headed for the stairs. 

For some reason you started getting nervous and found yourself fidgeting with your hands as you made your way up the stairs to Mando’s room. After all, you hadn’t planned on seeing him today. Being around him was almost addictive, his charming demeanor and undeniable good looks pulling you in, even if he had made you feel self-conscious. 

You thought about turning around but decided to nut up and hope for the best.

You finally reached his door. Taking a deep breath, you lightly tapped on his door. Within seconds, the door opened to a rather large room compared to your own. You saw a sitting area with a table that held covered plates. 

He looked you up and down taking you in. “Didn’t think you’d make it.” 

He stepped back from the door giving you room to walk in. As he closed the door behind you, he grabbed a bottle and two glasses.

“I thought you may want to know what decent bourbon tastes like,” he said, holding up the expensive looking bottle in his hand. 

“Blanton’s Single Barrel. It’s not at the top of my list of favorites, but it’s alright,” you quipped, walking to the set of chairs in the corner. 

He arched his eyebrow, “Oh, so Benchmark is?” he said in reference to your shitty bourbon you’d left in your room. 

“Well no, but desperate times call for desperate measures,” you shrugged.

Mando removed the plastic covers from the dishes set out on the small coffee table. The aroma of the perfectly seared steaks hit your nose, causing your stomach to rumble.You were not concerned with being polite. You grabbed the plate and started eating. He mirrored your action. 

You groaned with satisfaction, “This is the best steak I’ve ever had. Did you cook this?”

“Would it make you like me more if I said yes?” he said with a mouth full of potatoes. 

“You care if I like you?” you dabbed your mouth with a napkin. 

He reached for the low ball glass and took a sip, “Well, kind of. After last night I really wasn’t sure if you’d want to speak to me again, much less come enjoy dinner with me,” he looked at you sheepishly. “But no, I didn’t cook. Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse is responsible for the meal. I’ll be sure to give your compliments to the chef next time I see him,” he said as he took another bite of his steak.

“Well, please do. This really is good. I was starving.”

“You didn’t eat today?” He was genuinely concerned.

“No, not exactly. My meal was interrupted at lunch,” you tried to sound apathetic.

He looked at you with an expression that read as unease while he poured himself another drink. “What happened?”

“Some skeeze came into the shop I was at and kept looking at me weird. It made me uncomfortable, so I left. When I got outside it kind of looked like he was following me. I ran and I’ve been hiding out at the hotel since,” you kept the bulk of your focus on the bomb ass meal in front of you. 

You were hoping that he didn’t pry for more information. While his face held a look of surprise, he let the subject go. 

As the two of you finished your meals he asked, “So do you have any room for dessert? This place is known for a few.”

“What’d you have in mind?” The offer was just too appealing to pass up.

He got up from his seat and walked to the door as if he knew someone was about to knock. He opened the wooden door, taking the single plate from the delivery boy, thanked him and sent him on his way with what seemed like a rather large tip.

When he was seated back at the table, he unveiled a dessert you’d never seen before. 

“What is this?” you asked apprehensively. It smelled delicious, whatever it was.

“Only New Orleans’ finest, Banana’s Foster,” he said proudly. “Try it.”

“Gladly,” you said, noticing there was only one fork. You picked it up and took a generous bite of the Louisiana-native dessert. 

“Shit, that’s good,” you practically moaned as you swallowed. 

“Let me see,” he took the fork from you, sitting back down. He took a bite himself.

“Yep. Good shit.”

Again, you were far too into the meal to care about looking pretty while you ate, so you took yet another bite reveling in the explosion of flavors in your mouth. Though you wanted more, you soon realized you were full. 

“Pour me another drink, please,” you said as you sank into your seat, completely satisfied with your food. 

“Absolutely,” he agreed as he stood to pour you yet another one. 

“Make it a long pour, I promise I won’t get drunk,” you joked. 

Wordlessly, he handed you your now full glass, and you eagerly took it, standing to look around the room. 

“Your room is so much nicer than mine,” you noted as you took long sips of your bourbon. You had to admit it was pretty good at this moment. “Not to be rude, but you must have money or something, huh?”

He took a seat on the foot of the bed. “I’m comfortable.” 

“I’m still trying to figure out what kind of work you did,” you paused, turning to look at him, “I’m really trying to find out anything about you at all.”

“You’re trying to research me?” he leaned back on the palms of his hand, an intrigued expression on his face. For some reason when the alcohol got in your system the only thing you could focus on was his rugged sexiness. 

“Well, yeah. You know significantly more about me than I do about you,” you reminded him. 

“Not much.”

“Still more than you,” you took the final gulp of your bourbon before walking over and sitting at the head of the bed, your back pressed against the headboard, legs in front of you. “I know that you are retired and looking for an apartment. I know that you have a dog, which, by the way, where is he?” 

“I left him with one of my friends until I get settled here,” he assured you, turning around to face you. 

“Bummer,” you feigned sadness. “But anyway, I know you like bourbon. And I know you use a fake name and won’t give out the real one.” 

“Secrecy is survival. If you give out all you have to offer to everyone, it’s not special,” he was serious. 

“But like, your name? That’s just insane to me. But whatever, I guess I’ll just relish in the fact that you like bourbon,” you smoothed your dress over your thighs. 

“You’ve got caramelized brown sugar on your lip,” he suddenly said after a quick moment of silence. 

You licked at the corners of your mouth trying to get whatever he was talking about. “Did I get it?”

“No, hold on,” he stood and moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to you. He was so close you could smell that intoxicating smell again. 

The tip of his thumb was grazing the soft skin of your bottom lip collecting the brown sugar from it. He moved his thumb to his mouth, slowly sucking off the remnants. 

You were motionless, watching his every movement intently. “Did you get it all?” You were barely audible. 

“No,” he muttered under his breath, his strong hand moving to the back of your neck pulling you forward. 

You let it happen, slowly drifting forward until you felt his lips graze yours, the warm wetness of his tongue gliding across your bottom lip. Your own lips parted, inviting him to explore your mouth. The hand that was previously on your neck began to travel downward, finding its way across the slope of your breasts to your waist. He moved you in one swift motion, positioning you on his lap. You gasped as you were now straddling his thighs, face to face with him. 

“Is this okay?” Both hands were now grasping the small of your waist. 

You grabbed his wrist, moving one hand to the bottom hem of your dress. “Yes.”   
The roughness of his hand made you gasp as he slid his hand up your thigh, gathering the white fabric in his hand and pulling it over your head eagerly. You were acutely aware of the warmness pooling in your panties at this point. His hand was cold as he caressed the skin of your hip, moving the tips of his fingers to the underwire of your bra. The sensation sent chills through your body. You couldn’t help but think how different this was in contrast with your marriage. Traeger never touched you like that, much less consensually. You were reveling in the feel of a touch that didn’t make you want to vomit. Your back arched into him as he traced patterns across your breast through the lace of your bra, your nipples stiffening at the sensory impact. 

His impossibly dark eyes never left yours as his free hand reached behind you to unclasp your bra. He hooked his fingers in the straps and pulled them down, your breasts falling free as he dropped the lacy piece of fabric on the floor. His eyes were no longer on yours, but on your chest, hungrily taking in the site of you half naked. Finally, he took one in his hand, leaning forward to catch the free nipple in his mouth. 

You inhaled through your teeth, tilting your head back as his tongue flicked against your flesh. You laced your fingers through his hair, holding his head there. Small sounds of pleasure escaped your lips as you began to inadvertently move your hips against his lap. You then noticed the growing bulge in his pants. 

He moved back, releasing you from his mouth with a pop. You pulled him forward, your hands still in his hair, locking your lips to him again in a sloppy, needing, open mouthed kiss. He tasted sweet and minty all at once. 

You leaned back and your hands found their way to the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head in one quick motion. You took a moment to take a mental picture of the way the muscles of his abdomen and chest curved and contoured. He was fucking solid. You ran your hands down his chest and began tracing the waistband of his pants with your fingertips. Before you had the chance to unbutton them, he quickly flipped you over onto your back positioned to where your legs were dangling off the side of the bed. 

The only sound in the room was the uneven breathing coming from the both of you. He pulled you down the bed by your hips, your ass just at the edge of the bed. His face was somehow darker as he looked down on you, eyes trailing the entirety of your being. You could practically feel the wetness seeping out of you now. 

He left a hot trail of kisses across your breasts and down your torso until he reached the edge of your panties, sliding them off as he kneeled down. A look of desire formed on his face as he spread your legs, making room for his broad shoulders between your thighs. He was dangerously close to your center and making your heart rate increase. You could feel the warmth of his breath at the top of your inner thigh as he left a wet kiss making your breath hitch in your throat. 

“I’ve wanted to do this to you since you knocked that drink out of my hand,” his mouth lingered there, just at the crest of your pussy. You could feel the vibrations from his deep, reverberating voice. 

“Then do it,” you rasped as you moved your hips up towards his mouth.

“Eager,” he said leaning closer. His tongue breached the threshold, licking a stripe up your wet folds. 

He moaned against you as he continued to savor the taste of you. His tongue moved to work slow circles on your clit, causing your back to arch against the sheets. Your fingers found his hair again, tugging lightly to express how much you were enjoying the movement he had going. 

“Fuck, Mando--that feels so good,” you said through a breathy moan. You reached for the sheets as you felt yourself coming close to that release you so eagerly craved. His tongue continued to work gradually faster and with more pressure, sealing his mouth around your clit. You hadn’t felt such incredible talent in so long that you really couldn’t take much more.

Just as you were about to cum, you felt Mando pull away, and you groaned in aggravation.

“Why’d you stop?” You pouted. 

He chuckled and smirked at you, his lips glistening as he spoke, “You’re not getting off that easy.” 

He stood up, and your eyes immediately fell to the tautness of his pants at his crotch. He was hard. 

Unable to control your urges, you leaned up and grabbed him by the waistband, pulling him closer to you as you began to unbutton his pants. He ran a hand through your hair as you inched his jeans down his hips. You had an even better view of the outline of his cock pushing through the fabric of the black boxer briefs he was wearing. 

You expected him to be big, but not that big. Christ. Let’s hope he knows how to use it. 

You pulled the elastic waistband down, revealing more and more of his golden skin and the chiseled lines of his torso. His fully erect cock sprung out of the fabric, completely ready to pulverize you. 

You looked up at him through your lashes as you wrapped your lips around the head, already glistening with precum. Mando winced at the feeling, grasping your hair tightly as he let out a long breath through his nose. You swirled your tongue around him painfully slow letting spit collect in your mouth before taking more of him. You moved your mouth down his shaft, inch by inch creeping further to the back of your throat. You hadn’t ever taken one this big, so as he began to tickle the back of your throat, tears formed in the corner of your eyes. But you wanted more.

You lunged your head forward, taking all of him in and began bobbing your head up and down his length. 

“Fuck, that’s good…” he whispered, watching his cock disappear and reappear in your mouth again and again. 

You moaned with him deep in your throat, pulling some of him out and grabbing the exposed flesh with your hand, stroking him firmly as you continued to suck the life out of him. 

His free hand moved to your shoulder, grasping it tightly and stammering your name. 

“You--you need to stop--I’m going to cum,” he was saying between breaths. 

You pulled back for only an instant, “Do it, I won’t stop.” And you continued fucking him with your mouth. 

You could feel him throbbing against your tongue when he suddenly was no longer there. Before you could even register what was happening, you were thrust back on to the bed, now laying flat. Mando was between your widely spread legs, his cock laid across your needy pussy as he looked down at you sprawled against the sheets. His chest was rising and falling fast as he spoke.

“I don’t cum until you do,” his sexy, serious tone reverberating to your core. “This is the way we do this, okay? Do you understand?”

You nodded eagerly. 

His hand made a loud, sharp impact with your right ass cheek, a glorious stinging sensation left behind. “I want to hear you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes, yes, I understand completely,” you were basically pleading. 

“Good girl,” he muttered as he pressed at your entrance. You hooked one leg behind him, urging him to move further into you. “How bad do you want it?”

You squirmed trying to take as much of him in as you could. This made him retreat, pulling out of you entirely.

“I told you to use your words,” he said smugly, reveling in your torture.

You were essentially feral at this point, so you said the first thing that came to mind. 

“I want it so bad, please, Daddy, please give it to me,” you were on the brink of tears. 

“Oh, angel, I’m going to,” he slid into you slowly, teasing you. Every bit split you open wider and wider making your mouth go agape as he did it. 

He began thrusting into you, every movement sending your body into ecstasy. 

“Oh, my god!” you practically screamed inadvertently. You quickly raised your hand to cover your mouth, but Mando moved it swiftly. 

“I want people to hear what I do to you,” he tried to get out, never missing a beat whilst fucking you. 

He stood straighter making him go even deeper inside you with every snap of his hips. He laid a hand flat on the lower part of your abdomen, positioning his thumb over your clit. He rubbed small, quick circles over it making you moan and writhe at his touch. 

His breathing was uneven, but he continued pounding into you never slowing the pace of his thumb on your now throbbing clit. You wouldn’t last much longer. 

“Mando, I--I’m gonna cum, I can’t--” you couldn’t even finish your sentence before you absolutely shattered with the next stroke, your walls quaking around him, squeezing him through your release. 

He let out audible moans feeling the effects of your tightening around him. He finally relented, his thrusts getting sloppier and his hands finding your thighs, squeezing them tightly as he rode out his own high. You felt him release, hot cum shooting through you. The feeling was other worldly as you convulsed and whimpered. You watched him as he came back to reality, his eyes tightly shut as he caught his breath. 

You finally gained some control over your muscles again and propped yourself up on your elbows looking up at him, sweat glistening on your face. Finally his eyes opened and met your own. 

He was still catching his breath, “You good?”

You smiled wide. “Oh, yeah, I’m fantastic.”

He caressed the sides of your thighs as he pulled out of you, cum instantly leaking from inside you onto the bed. 

“Shit, sorry,” you stood quickly realizing immediately that your legs were not nearly as strong as you thought. You toppled over, crashing into Mando’s chest. 

“That good, huh?” he prodded, wrapping his arms around your waist to support you. “Lay down.”

“You don’t want me to leave?” You were genuinely confused. 

He was removing the rest of his clothes as he tilted his head in confusion of his own. “No, why would I want that?”

You didn’t respond, instead you sank into the bed. Your eyes felt heavy. You closed them for just a moment, just to rest them. But then you felt a cool blanket lay on top of you, the bed shifting as you realized Mando was situating himself next to you. 

“Turn on your side,” he murmured, reaching over you to turn off the bedside lamp. 

You did as you were told, turning on your side only to be met with his strong arm pulling your back closer into his chest. His facial hair tickled your earlobe. 

“Goodnight, angel,” he said softly. 

You closed your eyes as he traced his fingers up and down the slope of your hip. And you were happy. Genuinely happy. You were never allowed to be this happy. 

You knew something would go wrong soon.


	4. The Hunt

He thought he was finally retiring. He really did. 

When Din Djarin was young, it was easy to be the ruthless, heartless hunter that he had come to be known as, but as time went on, it became increasingly harder to track people down for money, sometimes returning them to horrible, awful situations that he could never even fathom. So, he had made a promise to himself that when he reached a certain age, he would retire. He was the go-to guy for anyone who wanted someone to discreetly be taken and returned, so his price was high, and he would have the money he needed to retire so young. 

That was the plan. And it had been going well. He had been retired for three months, living in a discreet village in rural America. He spent his days without worry, simply relaxing and recovering from twenty plus years of ruining people’s lives all the while with his beloved dog Grogu he had found a few years prior. It was the perfect situation.

On one fateful day, the untraceable phone he had used for his jobs began to ring. He was truly perplexed as he hadn’t heard the distinct ringtone of that phone in months. And there it was, vibrating relentlessly in his bedside drawer. 

Hesitantly, he picked up the phone. 

“You have the wrong number,” he gruffly greeted the unknown caller.

“No, I do not Mando,” a thick, eerie German accent came through the receiver. 

“I’m out of the game,” he rubbed at his temple, memories of the past flooding his vision. 

“I have an offer you won’t resist,” the mysterious German assured him. 

“I’ve heard that a lot, man, I’m really out.” Din wanted this conversation to end. 

“I’m Traeger Schulz,” the man bluntly revealed. 

Din was silent for a moment. He knew who that was. Aside from being one of the richest men in the world at a two hundred million dollar net worth, anyone who worked in the underground relations world knew that he was a powerful and deadly cocaine mogul. This man could severely fuck up his life or pay him handsomely.

“What do you need?” Din exhaled.

Traeger chuckled lightly to himself. “I knew that would get you. My wife has seemingly disappeared. Something I knew would someday happen, but it has blindsided me at this time,” he explained, with a twinge of disgust in his voice, “I would like her returned to me as soon as possible. And I know from colleagues’ personal experience that you can make this happen.” 

“How much are you willing to pay?” Din sat on his bed. 

“Five million,” Traeger said confidently. 

“Not enough, sorry,” Din knew this piece of shit could give more. 

“Tough bargain. Ten million no more. I will wire you the money tonight if you agree. I have heard you are a man of your word.”

Mando considered this for just a moment. Thinking about what this meant for him made him physically sick, but ten million dollars was a lot of money. 

“Do you have any intel?” Din finally spoke. 

“I have the number of the cab she was last seen in. I’m certain you can figure out the rest,” the man said evilly. “We will be holding a worldwide press conference tomorrow, so it should make the job fairly easy for you.” 

“Send the cab number. And a photo. It may take several weeks to do this in a way that is organic and discreet. I’ll leave tonight.” Din murmured as he hung up the phone. 

What had he done? 

Traeger quickly sent the intel he had including her name and a photo. And the money. 

It wasn’t hard to scare the cab driver into giving him the destination of the girl. She had been very careless in her plan to run away, using her real name to buy the plane ticket to New Orleans where she had a layover in Atlanta. Din was able to get to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport quickly, where he waited discreetly for her arrival at the terminal. Sure enough, she showed up on time. 

She was dressed in a silk negligee that was tattered unfortunately, and she looked distraught. Din began to wonder why she was running, but upon seeing her it was easy to tell why. She was a beautiful woman, he had to admit, but the fear in her eyes was rampant. His emotions started to climb to the front of his mind, sending a pang of sadness for the young woman, but he had a job to do.

She was in a hurry to get to New Orleans, and her layover was longer than expected, so she opted to take a bus to the Crescent City. He opted to use some of his new fortune to take an immediate chartered plane to get there before her. 

He waited at the bus stop for several hours before she turned up there. It would be so easy to get her now. Following her through the French Quarter, he watched her decide on a hotel, and it was time for his hunt to begin. 

Din’s tactics were different from most other hunters’. He would get very close to his victims, sometimes even befriending them so a bond of trust would form. That was why his hunts took time, but also why he was so successful in his field. He had two rules: never reveal anything about himself to the target, and never grow attached to the target. If he kept this up, his job was easy.

This girl was on high alert, she would be expecting someone to come for her, so he had to work hard to break her in. 

His first official encounter with her was peculiar. She had practically knocked his drink out of his hand. On purpose. It was at some tourist bar on Bourbon Street, a place he would typically never be found. But anything for the hunt, as they said. He had been standing there at the bar for a long time, an eager young bartender doing anything to get him. He didn’t like to be pursued like that. 

But it truly took Din by surprise that she would be so bold to retaliate for a simple shoulder bump from earlier in the day. He kind of liked her apparent confidence. He also took advantage of the situation. It was almost unfair how easy the job was shaping up to be. He bought her drinks, kept all of the information about himself vague and offered to walk her home. He turned the charm up to ten to make her want to see him again, and it worked. 

When he walked her home that night, he wasn’t oblivious to the way she looked. She had a perfect body, an otherworldly face. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever had the pleasure of looking at. And she really had a great personality to match, considering that she was coming from such an apparently awful situation. Din didn’t know for sure, but he could only assume that Traeger was a terrible, terrible husband. His suspicions were confirmed when he would later try to move some hair out of her face, and the action was met with a flinch. He felt horrible. 

It wasn’t hard to act like he enjoyed being around her. He didn’t have to act at all. He had genuinely enjoyed her company, her snarky quips, and her striking face. He would spend the day following her, at a safe distance, watching her be so careless with her “hiding out.” Din couldn’t help but think that if he weren’t there to capture her, he would give her some tips on disappearing. He had noticed her eating alone one morning, so he took the opportunity to sit with her and try to pry some more information from her, but it was difficult. She was almost as secretive as him. 

Whilst watching her throughout the day, he could tell she came from a background where she was always taken care of. She walked alone everywhere, and on that particular day she walked around the French Quarter with huge bags of luxury items. She had to be returned safely, with no damage, so that was the hardest part of the job. He had warned her about how dangerous the city got after dark, and she hadn’t listened. After having to beat the shit out of some creep who pulled her into an alley, he decided he was going to have to find a way to openly spend time around her more often. She was going to get hurt, and he didn’t want to see that happen.

He enjoyed another night with her, completely enthralled with her. They drank together, and he and she both had a few too many. Din never was one to drop the ball, but he definitely let himself get too close. She was throwing herself at him, craving his touch, and he almost caved. He felt the softness of her skin, making something go feral within him, and he found it extremely hard to not give in to her desire, but he couldn’t allow himself to go through with it. She was drunk, and it would just complicate things if he did it. 

But sometimes the body wants what the body wants. 

She was deeply offended by his refusal that night. He wasn’t sure if she was ever even going to speak to him again, so he took it upon himself to reel her back in. Someone had taken notice of her that day while she was eating her lunch thanks to the news stories that had been circulating. He took it upon himself to make sure the guy wouldn’t thwart his plans anymore. 

After watching her for the remainder of the day, he invited her to his room for dinner that night. He went ahead and decided that whatever happened, needed to happen. Even if that included sex. It was for the job, right? 

He had enjoyed the night way more than he should have ever allowed himself to. It was the best sex he’d had in years, and she just looked so beautiful in his bed. Her sweet face, and intoxicating personality drew him in causing him to make stupid decisions. He wanted her to stay in bed so he could take her in longer. And she did, she slept there in his arms the entire night. He barely got sleep. He could only think about what he had done. He had let himself get to a point with a target that he never had before. He finally thought about the possibility of Traeger finding out about his tactics. He wasn’t scared of Traeger, but he didn’t want to have to be on high alert for hitmen coming to take him out for fucking his wife. 

Din couldn’t make sense of why he did this. But he did and he loved every second of it. 

“This could only end poorly,” he thought to himself right before she started to wake up.


	5. Rough Night

Your eyes fluttered open as you quickly realized you slept in your melted makeup. You just knew you looked rough. You were quickly reminded of the man behind you as you smelled his perfect scent. You started to shuffle, and you felt the familiar rugged hand on your shoulder. 

“Are you finally awake?” His voice was sleepy. 

“Mmhm,” you hummed as you turned to face him. He looked as perfect as ever. You couldn’t help but feel self-conscious. 

He wiped some loose hairs from your forehead, noting the running mascara under your eyes. “Looks like you had a rough night. Are you feeling okay about...everything?” He was hesitant to ask. 

You smiled. “Yeah, I’m good.” 

“Good,” he returned with a smirk. “I’m not sure about you, but I need a shower, and I heard it was good for the environment to share the shower.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. 

You got up and pulled the sheets back, eagerly rising from the bed to head to the bathroom. “I didn’t know you cared so much about the environment.” You rolled your eyes as you walked into the other room. 

“I don’t,” he quipped as he followed you. 

You leaned over the threshold over the shower, flipping on the hot water. You felt eyes on you as you looked behind your shoulder to see Mando leaning against the door frame, naked in all his glory, watching you. You smirked, stepping into the steamy shower. 

You were standing under the rainfall showerhead cleansing your face when you felt Mando come in close behind you, his chest against your back, hardening cock pressing against your ass. He moved your hair over to one shoulder and began to leave kisses along the length of your neck, nibbling at the flesh every once in a while. You closed your eyes at the sensation, taking in the soothingness of the kisses and the hot water all at once. 

You were standing there enjoying the feel of the scalding water when Mando’s hand slid up your ribcage, reaching for your tit. He lightly pinched at your nipple, moving his lips to your jaw. He turned you around and gently pushed you against the shower wall. You almost lost your balance as his knee urged your legs open. Before you busted your ass, Mando’s arms caught you. 

He placed one hand on the small of your back and pulled you closer to him. He placed a couple of soft kisses on your neck before his lips found yours. Within moments your tongue snaked across his bottom lip, waiting on him to invite you in. He obliged, all too eager. Your tongues danced together while his hand moved around your waist, slipping down the wet skin of your lower belly until his fingers finally landed on your clit. As he began working soft circles around you, heat pooled at your core, leaving you breathless as you moaned.

He broke the kiss, biting softly on your lip and moved towards your ear nipping at your lobes. 

“Let’s try this again,” he whispered into your ear as he let out a small chuckle.

He grabbed you by the ass picking you up as you wrapped your legs around him. Your back was pressed to the cool tile of the shower wall, and you gasped as you felt his dick press at you, he looked you in the eyes, almost as if asking you for permission. 

Taking his cue, you loosened your grip around his waist, sinking onto him in one movement. 

Fuck, why was he so big? It almost stung to take all of him in, but you loved it. 

His fingers dug into the flesh of your ass as he began to rock his hips back and forth, his cock touching something deep inside of you every time he moved forward. You hooked your arms underneath his, dragging your nails down the length of his muscular back. Every muscle was moving fluidly as he supported you and filled you up. 

The water pooled in the small space between your two bodies as he leaned forward to continue biting and sucking on your neck. Your eyes fluttered closed as you relished the closeness, the intimacy of the way he handled you. You could not get enough of it. He was moving in a slow, lazy, but very steady and firm pace in and out of you, and it felt so good. 

“You’re so good at that,” you moaned, moving your lips to speak into his now wet hair. 

Taking your encouragement, he picked up the pace, still not too fast but just right enough to keep you on the right track to absolutely making you explode. 

He lifted his head connecting his mouth with you again, absolutely drinking in your open mouthed kisses as his breathing quickened. 

He was continuing to rock in and out of you as you were startled by the loud sounds of a cell phone ringing. You jumped back, disconnecting your lips from his. He didn’t stop fucking you, though. He looked over his shoulder at the illuminated phone on the nearby counter. 

“I’ll get that later,” he groaned as he turned back, bringing his mouth’s attention to your tits. 

“Okay,” you murmured as you brought your focus back to the stunning man pounding you in the shower. You were so close spilling over the edge, and he hadn’t even touched your clit. This man’s dick must have been magic or something. 

You wrapped your legs tight around him, urging him to move quicker with shorter, harder strokes, and he responded by doing just that.

He buried his face in your neck, his voice muffled, lips vibrating against your skin, “Are you going to cum for me?”

A breathy yes and a nod was all you could manage with the mixture of him pounding deep inside you and his beautiful voice. 

“Do it, angel,” he moaned as he came closer, too. 

Your walls were beginning to close in response to the beginning of your orgasm when the phone went off again. 

Mando’s head snapped back looking at the screen and sighed. “I guess it’s an emergency,” he said as he looked back at you, giving you a small kiss before reaching behind and grabbing the phone. He composed himself before hitting the answer button. “This better be important,” he said into the receiver. 

Your eyes were wide in disappointment. He had literally been like one pump away from making you lose your shit. Your mouth was slightly agape as you watched him frown at whatever was being told to him, his cock still stuffed inside of you. 

He sighed yet again, “Yeah. Whatever. Give me twenty.” He hung up the phone placing it back where it came from.   
Free  
When his eyes returned to yours, he looked regretful. 

“It’s an emergency,” he was basically frowning. He placed a palm gingerly on your cheek as he continued. “I have to go, but I promise I will make it up to you.” 

You smiled, trying to hide your pointless disappointment. “That’s fine. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just business,” he said before pulling your head nearer for another small, sweet kiss. “I would definitely rather stay here, but I have to go, like, now.”

You lowered your feet to the floor of the shower, and he fell out of you. “Of course, I’ll be on my way.” 

You stepped out of the shower and toweled off quickly as he did the same. He quickly got dressed in something casual, and you followed by throwing on your dress from before. 

He opened the door for you and you walked out and turned back to him. 

He placed a hand on your waist as he took you in one last time. 

“I’ll be seeing you later tonight?” He tilted his head, thumb rubbing up and down. 

“Yeah, that’ll work,” you placed a hand on his chest, standing on your tiptoes to drink in a kiss one last time. 

You turned on your heel, looking at him with a smile before making your way to your room. As you walked down the stairs, you couldn’t help but wonder who called Mando and what was so important that he couldn’t finish the job. You decided to not concern yourself with his business affairs--a habit picked up thanks to your husband--and opted to go grab a late breakfast.

Thirty minutes later, you were headed down Decatur Street towards the Ruby Slipper. You couldn’t satiate your sexual appetite, but at least you could satiate the grumbling in your stomach. 

As you made your way into the restaurant, you were greeted with the hustle and bustle of customers going about their normal lives, whilst you were trying to forget the traumatic events of the morning.

As you were seated at a table, a waitress appeared within moments.

“Good morning, what can I start you off with to drink?” she was pulling out a small yellow notepad.

“Um, I think I’ll have a mimosa,” you said sheepishly, honestly embarrassed to be drinking this early. 

She nodded and scurried off to the bar to get your drink as you looked over the menu. 

By the time she’d returned you’d settled on having the Eggs Cochon. You were determined to try as much “Louisiana food” as you could before you inevitably moved on to the next place.

As the waitress finished writing up your order on the paper, her eyes met yours. “Hey, not to be too invasive or anything, but have you seen those news stories about that European guy’s wife?” 

You stared at her for a moment, stunned she would do this right here, right now. 

“No.” That was all you could say. 

“You kind of look like her,” she looked at the ceiling as she thought, “What was her name?” 

“I don’t know, but I am not married, I don’t know what you are talking about,” your voice was monotonous, unimpressed. 

She looked at you again, “Sorry, it’s just kind of uncanny. I’ll just go put your order in.” And she walked away. 

You frowned as you watched her disappear into the kitchen. You just wanted to be left alone. 

As the waitress placed your order in front of you, the smell of a fresh baked biscuit hit your nose, followed by the tantalizing smell of pulled pork.

“Here ya go hun, enjoy,” the waitress smiled at you. “Can I get you anything else?” 

“This looks wonderful! I’ll go ahead and take another mimosa, thanks,” you said, eager to dig into your food. You couldn’t help but hope this tasted half as good as it looked. You quickly picked up the fork and cut into your food. It was pretty much the most delicious thing you had ever put in your mouth. Besides Mando. 

You were excited to have him around for pointless sex. The kind of sex he gave you, you had craved for years, and it was the perfect way to get your mind off of all the complexities that were your life at the time. He was exactly what you needed, but all good things that happened to you always ended horrifically. So, naturally, you were kind of just waiting on the atomic bomb that would come from this.

On your stroll back to your room, you were hyper aware of everyone surrounding you. You wondered every time someone would glance at you if they were thinking you looked like “that guy’s missing wife.” Of course, that was an absurd thought, and you were just overly aware of your situation, but you wanted to get back to the hotel room as soon as humanly possible. 

You had virtually just gotten up, but you were exhausted from all of the happenings that were going on in your life. It was around one in the afternoon at this point, so you thought it to be the best time for you to get a little extra rest in. A nap would get you nice and ready for the absolute earth-shattering orgasm that awaited you later. 

Somehow you managed to sleep till seven o’clock. You didn’t know how you could have let time slip away. You quickly jumped up and got as presentable as you could in ten minutes. Mando had been inside of you, so you weren’t too concerned about going all out for him. 

As you made your way to the door, you heard a crunch under your foot. You looked down and found a single sheet of paper with your name scribbled on it.

I hate to cancel on you, but something has come up. I promise to make it up to you, Angel. -M

Your shoulders slumped as you read the words. This was starting to feel personal, and he had a lot to make up to you. Who were you kidding? You were angry. You were otherworldly sexually frustrated, and from the couple days you had known him, he had seemed like a pretty genuine guy, so clearly something was up. 

You huffed in frustration and turned back to your bathroom to get hot as fuck. You were trying to impress people tonight. You were going to get very drunk and let everyone at the bar devour you with their eyes. 

You slipped on a tight pair of designer, distressed skinny jeans in a nice black wash and paired it with a black keyhole crop top. Your cleavage was outstanding, and your waist looked tiny in this outfit. You threw on thigh-high, wine red suede heeled boots and amped up your makeup to make it a dark smokey eye. You swiped on a lipstick that matched your boots, and you were ready. You looked fucking fantastic.

You stuffed some cash, your phone, and your lipstick into a small Chanel clutch and confidently left the hotel. 

It was night time, and if Mando knew you were out like this alone he would probably flip his shit. But who gave a fuck?

You were not in the mood for the energy of Bourbon Street, so you pulled out your phone looking for other options that were a little more mature than the bars and establishments you had been frequenting. You read about a more intimate establishment in the Saint Hotel, so you headed that way. 

You were perched on a barstool, all knowing that your ass looked incredible on the seat. You weren’t sitting at the bar for more than a minute when you felt the presence of a man right next to you. 

“Hey, baby,” the unfamiliar voice cooed to you. You turned your head, simultaneously rolling your eyes as you made eye contact with the unknown man. He was average height and average built, mousy brown hair in a Justin Bieber-esque haircut atop his head. He was wearing cheap cologne and a cheap suit with an awful smile on his face. “Let me buy you a drink.”

You gave him a fake half smile, shaking your head, “No, thank you.” You were just pleased that you were getting the attention you craved. 

The guy groaned and walked away immediately. At least he had enough sense to leave you the fuck alone. But soon after he left your side, another man appeared . You were just receiving your tequila shots when the man spoke.

“I don’t mean to be forward, but you are beautiful,” you looked at his massive hand on the bar and then up to his eyes. This one was much more attractive. He had great bone structure, black hair, and blue eyes. Not your type, but he was easy on the eyes. 

“Thanks,” you smiled before taking a shot in your hand and throwing it back.

“Let me get those and some more for you,” he took the barstool next to you. 

“No, I’m good. I’m trying to vibe alone,” you smiled warmly. You were just beaming with pride. 

You threw back a second one, and this time you did a scan of the room. When you looked over your right shoulder you noticed the intimate corner table at the back of the room. 

And you quickly realized it was Mando. With a woman. 

You were horrified. You were mortified. You didn’t know what to think. If he had been disinterested, he could have told you. There was zero reason for him to make it out like he had “business” to attend to. You eyed the woman sitting opposite of him. She was an absolute stunner with dark brunette hair and a very voluptuous body. Her eyes were gorgeous, and you were jealous. He seemed to be having a blast talking to her as they drank whiskey and took in the ambience together. Your entire tone changed. 

You looked back over to the guy who was still sitting next to you. “Hey, you know what, yeah, get some more.” 

The guy smiled and called the bartender over to your spot. He ordered another round of three shots for the two of you. When the bartender brought them over you looked at him. 

“What’s your name?” you acted more flirty than you ever had in your life in hopes that at some point Mando would look over. You were perfectly in eye shot. 

“Jackson,” he said as he took your hand. It completely dwarfed your own. “You?”

You told him your name as you grabbed the first of the three shots. “Cheers,” you smiled as you clinked the small glass to his. The drink slid down your throat and you shivered as it went down. 

“Damn!” you yelled. “That’s good. So, what do you do, Jackson?”

He started boring you with stories of his boring job, and the whole time you pretended to listen while you kept repositioning yourself so Mando would be in your peripheral. He was lost in conversation with that woman, and it infuriated you. 

“What do you do for work?” Jackson asked.

You snapped back to reality as you realized he was asking you a question. “Uh, I don’t.”

He laughed, “What? What do you mean you don’t work?” 

“I’m new to town,” you finally let your head drift back to look at the corner Mando was in. As soon as you looked back, his eyes finally darted away from his date’s. They met your own. 

It looked like you could see the fear flash before his eyes as he realized it was you sitting there with some random guy. He looked over to the date, pointing at you before getting up and quickly walking over to you. 

You turned your head back to Jackson and waited for the impact. 

“Hey,” you heard him say as he neared the two of you, “Is this guy bothering you?” 

Jackson looked up at Mando with a confused but defensive expression, “Hey, buddy, settle down. We,” he gestured between the two of you, “are talking here.” 

Mando didn’t even acknowledge the man. “Come with me,” he extended his hand to you. You looked down at it disdainfully then back at his face. 

“No, I’m good,” you said smugly. “I’m here with someone. Just like you.” 

He said your name meaningfully, “It’s not like that. Now come on” 

“You heard the woman, go away, bro,” Jackson piped in. 

Mando finally looked at the guy. “I suggest you stay out of this, bro,” he mocked the guy. 

“Alright, that’s enough” you slurred, waving your hands in front of you. Suddenly you were feeling the shots you had taken. “I’m leaving.”

You stood and Mando stepped in front of you, “Let me walk you, please.”

You laughed out loud, “No way, Mando, I’ve got someone to do that,” you patted Jackson on the chest. 

“Yeah fucking right, like I’m letting you walk out of this place with that douche,” he reached for your hand, grabbing it. “Let’s go,”

You jerked it away, “No! I’m walking home with,” you hesitated and looking up at the truly confused guy, “uh, James?”

“Jesus,” Mando grumbled. “We are going now,” he started to drag you by the hand to the door.   
“Dude, she fucking said no,” Jackson came up whisking you away from Mando’s grip. 

“You’ve got one more time,” Mando simply said as he reached for her again. 

“Or what?” the guy teased. Mando stared at him for a moment, blank faced. 

“That’s what I fucking thought,” Jackson chided, leading you back to the bar. “Guys like him are all tal--” 

He was in the middle of his sentence when he somehow ended up on the floor. He was on his knees rubbing his jaw as he looked up at his attacker. “Oh, fuck you dude,” he said as he stood, rearing back his arm to retaliate. The whole bar was watching in awe as everything transpired. 

The guy was making his attempt at punching his assailant back, when a black boot made impact with his face. 

“Get her out of here,” the feminine voice advised. You looked up and saw it was Mando’s date, and she was beating the shit out of poor old Jackson. 

“What the fuck is going on?” You screamed as you were once again being led out of the place by Mando. He said no words as he led you to the street. As you searched his face for an answer, you noticed the visible tension in his jaw.

Shit, you’d really messed up this time.

You wanted to know what was happening, but the world was spinning around you. You looked to him for clarification. 

“Stop, fucking stop,” you brought yourself to halt, but he kept walking. He kept going, and you were struggling to keep up with his long strides. 

“MANDO,” you yelled, firmly planting your feet on the concrete sidewalk. Again, he did not stop, and this time you fell to your knees, skidding across. 

“Fucking ow!” Your hands flew to your now even more ripped jeans. 

“Shit,” Mando turned around, kneeling down beside you completely frantic, “are you okay? I’m so sorry,” he began to examine your skint knees.

Tears started to form in your eyes. Whether it was from the pain of falling or seeing him with another girl or just being drunk you weren’t sure. 

He looked at your face, his eyes so sad, “please don’t cry, don’t do that. I’m so sorry,” he wiped the falling tear from your right cheek. 

You jerked his hand away from your face. “You could have just listened to me.” 

“I’m sorry, I should have,” he nodded, speaking calmly. You had never heard a man apologize to you. You had never seen someone so...remorseful. 

You wiped your face and started to stand. He grabbed your hands to help you up. 

“Are you good? Can you walk?” he was examining your body as you stood. 

“Yes. I’m fine,” you sniffled, sweeping off your pants legs. “Who was that girl, Mando?” 

For just a moment he looked worried, worried that he was letting you know more than he wanted. “She’s a friend of mine. Business friend.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. “Yeah, business I’m sure.”

His hands were now on your waist, eyes locked on your face. “I promise. She is an old friend, someone I used to work with. She happened to be here, and I needed her help with my, uh, current affairs.”

You looked at the ground, unwilling to face him. “What’s her name?”

“Cara.”

“It was really so important that you had to cancel on me?” You shifted on your feet, still not looking at him. 

“Well, yeah. I would have much preferred to be back at that hotel with you, I give you my word,” his fingers came to the bottom of your chin lifting your face to meet his own. “I give you my word.” 

He stressed it like it was the most meaningful thing he could ever give you. 

You stared at his endlessly deep and complex eyes for a moment before continuing. “Why did you hit that man?” 

“He was a douche,” Mando’s hands fell to his side as he shrugged. 

“That doesn’t really constitute hitting him and then getting your girlfriend to beat the fuck out of him,” you scoffed. 

“Not my girlfriend. And he was being awful, he deserved it,” he rubbed the back of his neck as he looked around the street. “Can I properly walk you to the hotel now?”

You nodded, and he extended his hand again. You took it, and you walked hand in hand to your room. 

You finally reached the door after a fairly silent walk back. 

“Can I make sure you get in bed okay?” He finally spoke.

You didn’t respond, instead just opening your door and letting him walk in. You sat on the foot of the bed and carefully removed your boots. You stood to take your pants off when you sharply inhaled through your teeth at the stinging sensation at your knees. Mando disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a damp towel. 

“Sit,” he said as he got on his knees in front of you. You were sitting there with your pants halfway pulled down. 

He carefully cleaned your wounds, biting his tongue between his lips as he did it. When he was done he looked back up at you. “I’m so sorry, again. I can’t believe I did that to you.” He pulled off your jeans the rest of the way. As he stood, he grabbed the hem of your shirt. “This okay?”

You nodded. 

He pulled the fabric over your head, reaching behind you and unclasping your bra with one hand. 

“Go get under the covers,” he pointed to the head of the bed. You obeyed and climbed in. 

He stood there at the edge of the bed watching you intently as if you may just disappear at any moment. 

“Mando?” you said quietly. 

“Yeah?”

“Were you jealous of that guy at the bar?” you pulled the cover up to your chin. 

He looked around the room, sighing before looking back at you. 

“Do I really need to answer that? Or was it rhetorical?” 

He didn’t need to answer. The whole situation spoke for itself. After a moment, he walked forward a couple of steps and wrapped his hand around your shin over the blanket. 

“Goodnight. I will see you soon.” 

The door lightly shut behind him, and you closed your eyes. You were so confused.


	6. Heat Wave

When your eyes fluttered open, the blinding sunlight filtered through the open curtain of the hotel room. The reality of what you’d done the night before came flooding back to your mind. That girl Mando was with kicking the shit out of that guy hitting on you at the bar, and then there was Mando. 

He was so jealous, and you couldn’t quite figure out why. It wasn’t like the two of you had put a title to whatever was going on with you two, but you hadn’t asked either. 

You quickly realized that what happened last night was a product of your jealousy. The hope he would notice you up there. 

As bad as you wanted answers, you decided to let him come to you. After all, you were still pissed about him treating you as if you were a child. Being dragged out of the bar quite literally was quite lame. 

The jealousy, you could deal with that. But him treating you like a kid who had disobeyed him hit a little too close to home. You’d left Traeger to get away from that, not be thrown back into it. That marriage was a joke.

You had long decided you were done with men like that, and you were going to keep it that way. 

Whatever the reason for Mando’s outburst, you’d find out soon enough. 

You hadn’t checked the news lately so you decided to let the TV play as you got out of the bed. Your sore muscles from the night before served as a reminder that no matter what, you would not drink today. As you headed for the bathroom, the tub called your name. You eased into a hot bath while you considered what you wanted to do for the day. It seemed your days here lately always started out with a shower or bath, but you had just gotten away from a stressful situation and needed all the relaxation you could get. Your ears perked up as the anchorman spoke your name. 

“The search for Traeger Schulz’s wife, heiress to the Gideon Empire continues,” The anchorman announced. “The only leads we have are that she is suspected to be somewhere within the borders of the United States. If anyone has seen this woman, Schulz and Gideon ask that you call the hotline listed below.” 

Mother fucker, everyone is going to be looking for you now. He really wouldn’t rest until he had you back in the vice grip that was your marriage. You rose from the now lukewarm water, and toweled off. All semblance of peace left your body after hearing that there was a hotline. You had a figurative bounty on your head now. 

As you dressed in comfy, mundane clothes, you decided to throw your hair up and put a baseball cap on as well. Last night’s escapade was a good way to get caught and returned to Germany. Grabbing your bag as you headed out the door, you decided to go somewhere you were least likely to run into Mando. You had enough going on as it was. 

The Audubon Zoo sign loomed ahead of you. You always loved the zoo, but Traeger never would allow you to go anywhere that could allow you to openly discuss his affairs, much less a place that brought you so much joy. It had been years since you had been. Shit, the last time you went was when you were a small child. The elephant exhibit had always been the best part of the zoo experience for you, and you couldn’t wait to see it. 

After you purchased your ticket, you headed toward the Asian exhibit where you saw a couple tigers pacing back and forth in their enclosure. They were fascinating to watch. Some little monkeys were playing around on the rope swings, and you stayed there admiring them for a while. You were taking everything in, watching all of the other animals milling about in their enclosures as you made your way to the Elephant Pavilion. 

Children ran around hollering to their mothers and fathers about what animals they’d seen or which ones they still wanted to see. Others whined about being hungry or tired. You noticed that some of the parents were drenched in sweat, chasing their awry children about and trying to keep them contained. The Louisiana heat was unforgiving today. The noon sun was beating down, baking New Orleans in a toasty 102 degree oven. You gulped at your water, thankful that you remembered to snag a bottle back at one of the food carts. 

You found a somewhat shaded spot to perch on at the Elephant Pavillion, hoping that it would offer some relief from the heat. You watched as a large female bathed her calf, perfectly content and at peace. One of the others stood in the pool spraying itself off attempting to stay cool. 

You wished it luck, you didn’t think anything could break this heat. It almost made you long for the mild German summers you’d grown accustomed to. 

The African Savanna exhibit was next and even though you were sweating profusely, you wanted to see the giraffes and lions. As you wiped the sweat from your brow, you headed that direction at a much slower pace. You were still quite sore, but you were really enjoying yourself and your time out alone. The lions were lounging on one of the rocks cleaning themselves when you walked past. As much as you were loving the zoo, you felt akin to the animals. You were once like them, an animal in a cage, and it made you pretty sad. 

Unable to stand the heat anymore, you headed out of the zoo in search of food and air conditioning. Being that it was scorching outside, you didn’t want something too heavy to eat. You settled on going to the St. James Cheese Company restaurant you’d caught sight of on your way to the zoo. 

As you were seated at a small table, you were immediately glad for your choice. The plates of food around you looked mouth watering, and the smells of the restaurant were beyond enticing. Your mouth was already watering by the time your waitress made it to the table. 

“Good afternoon ma’am! My name is Brooke, and I’ll be taking care of you! Can I start you off with anything to drink?” she said cheerily. The hospitality around here was unlike anything else you’d ever experienced. 

“Yes, I’d love a water with lemon, and I’m actually ready to order as well,” you replied as your belly rumbled. 

“Okay, perfect,” she smiled as she pulled a book and pen out of her apron. “What can I get for you?”

“I think I’ll have a brie and ham sandwich with a side salad please. I’d like the dressing the house recommends for that,” you handed her the menu as you smiled. 

“Okay ma’am. I’ll get that going for you, and I’ll be right back with that water,” she said as she turned toward the kitchen. 

As she dropped your water off, you took a second to drink in the sights around you and couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of jealousy. People were going about their normal day, living normal lives—something they likely took for granted—and you were sitting here praying that nobody would recognize you and send you back to your billionaire ass of a husband. You pulled your cap down a little lower and waited patiently for your food. 

As you emerged from the restaurant 45 minutes later and started making the trek back to your hotel, you immediately started sweating again. 

You spotted an ice cream truck and decided to grab some in hopes that it would cool you off enough to make it back to your room. There were so many flavors to choose from but you decided on chocolate. The little guy selling it was so nice. You engaged in small talk while he fixed the ice cream cone for you. You paid him, making sure to leave a generous tip and told him to have a nice day. 

You continued on your walk spotting a bench in some shade and decided to take a seat and enjoy your ice cream before it melted. There were people everywhere enjoying the outdoor activities. In an unsettling turn, a lady walking by was staring as if she recognized you. Thanks to the news, you had been getting some much unwanted attention. You had thought the baseball cap you opted for before heading out would help to conceal you from wandering eyes, but you still managed to earn a few undesirable second glances from strangers. Thankfully after a brief moment she was gone, and you got up to continue on your way back to your room. A part of you was hoping you would run into Mando somewhere along the way, and another part of you was hoping to avoid him period. 

As you entered the lobby of your hotel, you were greeted with a blast of air cold enough that you shivered. You reveled in the fact that you were finally in a place you felt comfortable without prying eyes, and paused for a moment to enjoy the place you’d chosen to stay. 

You had never actually taken the time to look around the lobby before. The architecture exuded the history of the city you’d chosen to disappear into. It was as if each brick held its own individual story. 

When you reached the hall to your room you noticed someone knocking on your door, with a beautiful bouquet of pink peonies sprinkled with baby’s breath throughout. 

Sheesh, those looked expensive. 

You gulped as you realized just who the person rapping on the door was.

“Mando?” you called as you got closer. “What are you doing here?” you were trying to sound annoyed, but your voice hitched and sounded a little strangled. He had an insane amount of explaining to do after last night's events. He stared at you blankly as you pushed past him to swipe your card to enter the room. In all honesty, you were slightly annoyed that he had chosen now to show up. You had intended to head straight to the shower and wash off, considering all of the sweating you’d done today. You had even planned on watching a movie and ordering dinner in.

“Well, I don’t think we left things off on a good note, and I was hoping to apologize,” he said shyly as he extended the flowers towards you. 

You sighed as you took them from him, careful not to make contact with him. They really were gorgeous flowers. Oddly enough, they happened to be your favorites. Surely it was just a coincidence that he’d picked these out of all the other flowers there had been to choose from. 

As you sat down on the bed, you huffed out a breath of air, “Thanks for the flowers, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” You placed the flowers on the table next to the bed and decided to play ignorant to the fact of how drunk you’d been, how jealous you’d made him, and the scene that had resulted. You didn’t even want to acknowledge the fact that you’d seen him out with another woman, or the fact that he’d chosen to treat you like you were seven on the walk home. You absentmindedly rubbed your scabbed knee as events replayed in your head, again. 

He said your name apologetically, “You know exactly what I’m talking about. You went out alone—which I told you was dangerous, by the way, dressed the way you did, attracting unwanted attention, making me...” he trailed off as he looked at the wall, clearly wanting to say something more than he was willing. 

You arched an eyebrow and gave him a look of shock. It was all you could do to keep from letting your jaw hit the floor. 

“What’s wrong with wearing something that makes me feel confident? And what makes you think the attention I got was unwanted?” you quipped. It came out angrier than you’d anticipated, but if he really wanted to go there, then you could definitely go there. 

You continued, “Maybe that guy was giving me exactly the kind of attention I was craving. I clearly wasn’t getting it from anyone else that stood half a chance. They were too busy cancelling plans with me and going out on dates with other people,” the octave of your voice getting louder with each word. The minute the words crossed your lips, you felt a bit of regret, but fuck it. 

His head snapped back to make eye contact with you. His face was nearly impossible to read. “I told you, it wasn’t a date. It was business, and her name is Cara.”

“Okay fine, even if it was business, you still treated me like I was a kid. I am a grown woman, completely capable of making my own decisions,” you rolled your eyes. “I left where I was because of a lack of freedom and the repercussions I had to face if I did make my own decisions without asking for permission,” you said as a single tear trailed down your cheek. You caught it and wiped it away angrily, but not before Mando caught sight of it.

He made two strides across the room and was kneeling in front of you, cradling the side of your face the tear slipped down. 

“Please don’t cry,” he said as his soft eyes looked up at you with sadness. You internally wondered if you’d shared too much information. 

He moved to sit beside you on the bed, pulling you to him. His arms instantly wrapping around you, enveloping you into a blanket of safety as he cradled your head in the crook of his neck. You broke down instantly, your shoulders shook as you let out emotions you’d kept bottled up since you boarded the plane back in Munich. 

You found solace in his arms, and when the tears stopped, you sat up and looked at him. 

You were still angry that he had treated you like he had but you had to admit that you melted whenever he held you like that and it made you almost forget it all. 

“I'm truly sorry for what happened last night,” he said as he wiped your face with his strong fingers. He had a look of true earnest on his face, and you could tell that he truly meant what he was saying. 

You looked at his eyes swirling with emotion, and looked down at his lips. This man was unlike any you’d ever met before. You were completely inundated with intrigue for everything about him, and you still didn’t know his name. 

It was almost as if he’d read your mind as his mouth came crashing into yours as he pulled you onto his lap. It was a passionate kiss that left you absolutely breathless and gasping for air as he parted from you just long enough to pull your shirt over your head, your cap flying off with it.

“Mando, I’ve been sweating all day, I need to--” you tried to leave his grasp to go to the bathroom.

“I don’t care,” he rasped as he pulled you back in.

His lips parted and his tongue swiped across your mouth, asking permission to deepen the kiss. You obliged, giving him access to explore. 

One of his hands tangled in your now loose hair pulling tautly at it, as the other unclasped your bra. A slow burning heat pooled at your core as he quickly flipped the both of you over, pulling your bra off in the process. He slung it across the room as he caught your nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it devastatingly slow, making it harden. A moan escaped your mouth as you looked at the gorgeous man lavishing your body with praise. 

Without hesitation, you pushed him back far enough to tear his T-shirt over his head. God, he looked even better than you remembered. His golden skin covered toned muscles, dark hair framing a face filled with lust. 

He rose up, placing his tanned hands at the waistband of your shorts, as his eyes raked over your half naked body. You raised your hips off of the bed allowing him to pull them off. He pulled one of your legs up and kissed your calf. You wriggled in anticipation, as he worked his way up your leg leaving feather soft kisses along the way. As he kissed your inner thigh, he looked at you lying there. 

“I have been looking forward to this since yesterday morning,” he said. His voice was low and laced with pure desire. “I promised you I would make everything up to you, Angel. And that is exactly what I plan to do.” 

He lowered himself to his elbows, lightly blowing across you before he placed a kiss at the apex of your thighs, right where you wanted it most, eliciting a needy moan from you. Your legs splayed open, allowing him more access to you. His fingers found your dripping wet slit, and slid across it, tantalizing you. You whined as he pulled his hand away.

He gripped your hips pulling you closer to him, and you felt his mouth encircle your throbbing clit. He began to work slow, methodical circles around you with his tongue, a low hum in the back of his throat as he tasted you. Your fingers weaved into his hair, ensuring he stayed right where he was. 

“Fuck Mando, please don’t stop,” you moaned.

Upon hearing your words, you felt his fingers slide into your folds in search of that sweet spot he knew was there. It took him all of two seconds to find what he was looking for. Your hand found your breast, pinching and rolling your nipple as you ground your aching pussy against Mando’s devilish tongue. 

Your orgasm came barreling out of nowhere, catching you completely off guard. You called Mando’s name as your walls quaked around his fingers. 

As he pulled his fingers out of you, you worked to catch your breath. You looked up when you heard his pants hit the floor. You bit your lip as you looked over his body, appreciating every inch of him. He was sucking on his fingers, savoring your taste as your eyes lingered on his erection. 

He climbed back onto the bed and flipped you over onto your belly. You felt his hands as they pulled your ass up towards him. You felt a sting as his hand made contact with it. 

He slid the tip of his cock across your already dripping cunt causing you to arch your back deeper, allowing him easier access to your center. 

You gasped as he entered you all at once, filling you up completely. He pulled back painfully slow and snapped his hips back again, burying himself to the hilt inside of you.

“Ahh, fuck you feel so good,” Mando said breathily above your moans. 

He worked his hips at a steady rhythm. You wanted more, so you met each thrust pushing your hips back into him. 

“Faster, Mando. Please,” you pleaded with him. 

His thrusts picked up speed, as one hand tangled in your hair pulling at it. The other gripped your hip giving him leverage to fuck you deeper and harder than you thought possible. His breathing got heavier. You knew he was getting closer to his release. Your hand reached down and found your still sensitve clit. You started working small, quick circles around it with your fingers. You heard Mando’s breath catch as he realized what you were doing. He picked up the pace in response. 

“Shit, Mando. I’m gonna cum,” you gasped. “Cum with me...”

Before you could finish your thought, stars appeared as another blinding orgasm wracked through your body, making you squeeze him tighter. You felt his dick throb as hot cum filled you up.

Both of you collapsed on the bed as he kissed your shoulder. He pulled out allowing the evidence of what had just happened seep out of you and onto the bed. 

As you both attempted to catch your breath, you rolled towards him.

“I’m going to have to go out alone more often, if this is the result,” you said playfully. 

He pulled you close to him placing another kiss on your lips, “Don’t even think about it.”

As you laid on his chest, his fingers tracing patterns across your back, you realized you hadn’t felt this content in a long time. The rhythmic rising and falling of his chest made all of your worries melt away as you drifted into the most peaceful sleep you’d had in a long time.


	7. Chicken Strips Are For Kids

You were starting to find as much normalcy as you could in your daily life. You were starting to get somewhat of a routine down and not relying so much on just finding random ways to occupy your time. Your drinking habits had also become much more under control, so you were proud of yourself for that. 

It had been a couple weeks since the debacle at the bar, and you and Mando had made up. You had made up with each other pretty much daily at that point, spending your evenings in his room getting railed on every surface available. But between all the fucking, there were so many moments of intimacy that made your heart flutter. The way he would always make sure you were okay afterward, the small, soft kisses he would randomly give you when you were near him, it all made you weak. Being with him made you forget everything wrong with the world, all of your troubles, all of your insecurities. It even made you forget you were essentially a fugitive, and you longed for his presence all of the time. 

During the day, he tended to be busy, off doing whatever the hell it was he did. You still found it so strange that you had spent this much time with this man and still had not a clue about him. Especially his name. Everything about him was drawing you in, you needed to know him. 

But most evenings he was right there with you. He would bring you food and gifts and shower you in affection before making you cum so many times you couldn’t see. He was perfect. 

And today you were going on a real deal date with him. You were beyond nervous. 

The idea had been tossed around lightly between the two of you the night before.

You were resting your head on his bare chest using the tip of your index finger to trace all of the hard, chiseled lines on his torso. His hand was steadily playing with your hair.

“I want to take you out,” Mando said, breaking the comfortable silence.

You craned your neck to look at him, “Take me out?”

“Yeah,” he shifted so you were face to face. 

“Like out out?” You furrowed your brow. 

He smiled while his hand found your side, lightly running his fingers along your curves. 

“Yeah, like a date. You don’t have to look so disgusted at the prospect,” he joked as he noted your confused expression. 

“Oh, sorry,” you shook your head, “I’m sorry. I’m just confused.”

“Why?” He asked genuinely concerned. 

“I don’t know, we just typically stay here,” you pointed around the room. 

He pressed his lips against your forehead in an open mouthed, lazy kiss. It made you basically melt into him.

“I know, but you deserve a date,” he pulled back, searching your face.

“So, you want to take me on a date because you feel bad for me?”

He scoffed. “No, I just like you that’s all.”

You stared at him for a moment considering him. You were nervous about saying yes, because what if Traeger had people in town and they saw you with Mando? You didn’t want to drag him into some bullshit he didn’t need to be a part of. 

But as you looked at his sweet, adorable, do-no-wrong face, you couldn’t help it. 

“Okay,” you sighed, “but I’m not putting out on the first date,” you said as you buried your face in the crook of his neck. 

And that was that. You had a date at eight o’clock tonight. 

You found yourself feeling like a young girl in high school. You were stressing over what to wear, how to look. The man had already been inside of you, so you weren’t entirely sure why you were so distraught over this, but alas, you were. You settled on going light with your makeup, something just to enhance your natural features. You wore your hair down, loosely curled to create body and soft waves. You didn’t know where Mando was taking you, so you just wore a red cotton slip dress. Nothing too fancy or too casual. But it did look good as hell on you, very fitted and revealing. 

Your black red bottomed shoes clacked against the floor of the lobby as you entered it, looking around the room trying to spot Mando. Finally, you spotted him sitting in a chair facing away from you. When you rounded the corner, you saw him sitting there in standard clothes, a white t-shirt with jeans, brown leather jacket over the top. You felt awkward as you realized even though you went for the “casual” dress, you were very overdressed. 

“Well, fuck, I’m overdressed,” you spoke up. 

He looked up at you, then up and down your body. “No, you look amazing. I love it.”

“You could’ve told me it was going to be casual,” you had a slight tone of annoyance. 

He stood as he spoke, “Nope, I like it when you get all dressed up for me. Come on.” He made the way for the door, and you followed closely behind him. 

You found yourself struggling yet again to keep up with Mando’s long strides. He was so tall it would have been impossible to keep up, but you persisted.

“Where are we going?” You asked as you looked around noticing you were in a part of town that you had never been before. 

“A place,” he retorted, continuously looking forward and walking quickly. 

“So charming,” you rolled your eyes. “Really.”

“Dinner and a movie,” he gleaned over his shoulder and slowed his pace when he saw you lightly jogging to keep up. 

“Oh, cute,” you smiled. You weren’t sure when the last time you went on a real date was. You had only been to public appearances with Traeger in the past few years, so dinner and a movie sounded so sweet and appealing to you. 

The restaurant was an upscale casual joint with gastropub vibes. You and Mando were seated at a round booth, sitting shoulder to shoulder, which made you nervous. Again, your nerves were so unwarranted, but every time you looked at him that night, your stomach would flutter and you were hyper aware of every move you made. You didn’t know what was different, but something was. 

You had been sitting there in silence for a few minutes, looking at the menu deciding on what to get. He was doing the same. The coarse fabric of his pants was ever so lightly grazing the skin of your knee, the contact was absolutely exhilarating to you. 

“What are you going to get?” He finally spoke up, folding his menu and laying it down on the table. 

“I think I’m just going to get chicken tenders,” you shrugged looking over at him. His brow furrowed. 

“Chicken strips?” 

“Yeah? I like chicken strips,” you raised one brow defensively. 

“Chicken strips are for kids,” he laughed lightly to himself. 

“If they were just for kids they wouldn’t be on the menu that is clearly and obviously for adults,” you were actually being way too defensive about this. 

As the waitress approached to take your order, you proudly ordered your chicken strips smirking at Mando as you did so. He got some pretentious over-priced steak and ordered the both of you a glass of pinot noir. As the waitress stepped away from the table, you called for her.

“Ma’am, could you just bring the whole bottle?” You should have been embarrassed, but your anxiety riddled brain needed it. 

She smiled and nodded as she continued walking back to get all your stuff. 

You noticed that Mando was staring at you in your peripheral. You looked over and tilted your head. “What?”

“Nothing,” his eyes fell to your lap. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“Like what?” his eyes met yours again. 

You sighed. “Nevermind.” Maybe it was the nervousness and the feeling very uncomfortable in this environment, but you were pretty annoyed. 

“I like you,” he muttered, saying your name. 

“Why, though?” Your voice was louder than expected, you took it down a notch. 

“You’re beautiful. And funny. I don’t know I just like you. Don’t you like me?” He was mostly joking about the last part, but you were irritated. 

“I don’t even know your name, dude,” you crossed your arms. “When are you going to tell me your name?” 

He sighed as he looked into your eyes, “I told you. I can’t do that.”

You groaned. “You keep saying that, but won’t tell me why. What’s the deal?”

He was starting to get frustrated, too. “It’s complicated.”

“I have an extensive education, Mando,” you were now facing him, turned to the side in the booth, “I think I could understand it.” 

“I told you, secrecy is survival, and I can’t just give out personal information like that. Can we please just enjoy this date?” His voice was almost scornful. 

“Why the fuck are you giving this fake woke ‘secrecy is survival’ shit?” Your eyes couldn’t have rolled back further. “I’ve been giving you some of the best sex of your life for weeks, just tell me your name!”

His fingers found his temples, elbows on the table, massaging as he sighed. 

“If I tell you why I cannot tell you, will you leave it be?” He turned his eyes to you. 

You were hesitant, but you nodded, eager to learn anything you could about him.

He took a deep breath, “The work I did prior to coming to New Orleans, was dangerous work,” he paused, considering his next words carefully. “I was taken in by this organization when I was younger, a teenager. It’s a pretty serious organization, they hold their beliefs close to the heart.”

He looked at the table, always being mindful of what he was telling you. “We had a creed to follow. We took--” he looked up at you, “take it very seriously. And without telling you everything about everything, we can’t tell our names to anyone. It would make us void to the organization.” 

You were stunned. This all seemed so sketchy, and truly kind of cult-y. You were no stranger to sketchy business, but Mando just truly hadn’t seemed like the type. But you weren’t one to judge him. 

“But,” you thought for a moment. “You said you were retired. Why do you still need to follow this ‘creed?’”

He sucked his lips between his teeth as he thought about it. “I am. But once you are in this organization, you are one of them for life. You have to be noble in the cause, and it means a lot to me. 

You were much more calm than you had been before. “So you are just never allowed to tell anyone your name ever again?”

He looked through the crowds of the restaurant, very uncomfortable with the question, but alas, he answered. 

“You can tell the person you love.” 

“Oh,” was all you could manage. 

It’s not like you thought he loved you, of course he didn’t. You had barely known each other for a month. But hearing him say that struck a nerve for no reason at all. For some reason, you wanted to be risky. You wanted to ask a question that had the potential to make you even more sad.

“Have you--” you wanted to stop yourself, “have you ever told someone your name?”

He was now looking at you with a deadpan expression. Completely blank, unreadable even. 

“No.”

Before you could open your mouth to respond, the wine was being placed on the table. You snapped out of the trance you were in with the previous conversation and profusely thanked the waitress. 

The rest of the dinner, you and Mando acted like the conversation had never happened. You made the most of your night, and tried to push all the negative thoughts and otherworldly nerves to the back of your mind. The wine was all gone now, and most of the food had been consumed. You were totally satisfied with the food stuff, but not with the emotional stuff. You decided to just ignore any of the emotional aspects of this strange relationship with Mando, and just have fun. 

“I need to go to the bathroom before we leave,” you said as you laid your napkin on the table. Mando slid his hand discreetly down your ass as you stood. 

“Be quick, we gotta get to the theatre,” he smiled at you. 

You were striding to the bathroom when you noticed a payphone. You realized you hadn’t seen one of those in a really long time. As you neared it, you heard a shrill tone. You couldn’t help but be surprised that it still worked. 

“I didn’t know you could call those…” you thought as you walked into the bathroom. 

You emerged a few minutes later and took notice that it was still ringing. Maybe it was the wine, but you felt compelled to pick it up. 

“What the hell,” you shrugged as you stepped up to the booth and picked up the receiver. 

“Hello,” you said sweetly into the receiver. “You’re calling a restaurant, just wanted to let you know.”

A familiar voice came through the receiver, “Oh, I know exactly where I’m calling.”

You were frozen in your spot. “Tr-Traeger?”

“Aw, baby, you didn’t really think you could outrun me and hide forever did you?” he said maliciously. The anger and resentment in his voice practically seeped through the receiver you had pressed to your ear.

You were so shocked, scared even. How did he even know you were here much less that you’d pick up the phone? You had thought about what you would do if he found you, but you weren’t prepared to find out this way.

“The whole world has its eyes on you,” he said your name, his voice making chills rise on your entire body and not the good way. “You have nowhere to go. It’s only a matter of time before someone snatches you up and brings you back, darling.” 

You didn’t know what to do, you didn’t know what to say. You were horrified. You were now just a sitting duck, any chance of freedom or staying low completely shot by Traeger. Your mind was pulsating with pressure and thoughts of the absolute worst. 

“Know that when you return home, there will be consequences for this. Love you, baby,” he said condescendingly before you heard the dial tone indicating he had hung up. 

You kept the receiver pressed to your ear as you stared forward. You didn’t believe this was real life. It couldn’t be. 

You were still standing there when Mando rounded the corner.

“Hey, are you okay?” He walked up to you, placing a hand on your waist. You didn’t respond, only kept staring forward unsure of what to do. 

He said your name and only your eyes moved to meet his. 

“What’s wrong?” 

You couldn’t tell him about this. Like he said, “secrecy is survival.” 

“Uh,” you thought about a quick lie, “nothing. This was ringing, and I picked it up. Scary prank call.” You were trying your best to be composed and hung up the phone. 

“Come on, let’s head out,” he grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the doorway. 

As he led you through the crowd of people on the sidewalk, you tried to compose yourself. You looked at every single person who passed you and wondered if they were an informant. 

Mando kept looking at you with a worried expression on his face. His pace slowed as the theater sign came into view. He purchased your tickets and stopped as he entered the lobby of the theatre. 

“Do you want anything from the concession stands before we head in?” he asked, with that concerned look still on his face. 

“Yeah, popcorn, Milk Duds, and a Coke would be good,” you replied. “And hey, get me extra butter on that popcorn.”

Concessions in hand, you finally entered the cool, dark theatre. You chose to sit at the top of the theatre, on a balcony over the entryway that held only two seats. You thought that would keep you safe somehow. Pleased with your choice, you kicked your heels off and sighed with relief as you got comfortable.

You’d thought you’d given Mando a good enough story for the subject to be dropped, but you were terrible at hiding your emotions, and he pressed further.

“You still look really upset. You sure you don’t want to tell me about that call at the restaurant?” he looked genuinely worried about your wellbeing. 

You had an internal battle with whether or not you should tell him your current state of affairs. 

You heaved a sigh, as you prepared to divulge your secret.

“That was my husband on the phone,” you looked at him reluctantly.

Mando straightened in his seat. “What?”

“My ex, that was him. And I have no clue how he found me,” you placed your hand over your eyes. 

“Is it a problem for him to know where you are?” Mando asked, placing a hand on the top of your thigh.

You groaned louder, finding this so hard to do. You hadn’t been able to talk about the situation at all, and here you were baring it all. 

“Yeah. I ran away. He’s a bad, bad man. He does dirty business, and he, like, was really mean to me,” you leaned forward, cradling your head in your hands. “He’s very powerful, and he says he’s going to find me.” 

“Are you sure it was him?” 

“Yes. I would know his voice anywhere.” You looked over your shoulder, back at Mando. 

“What has he done to you? Can you talk about that?” Mando’s brow was furrowed, a look of ferocity and sadness so evident. 

You were silent before revealing the deepest traumas of your life to the newest confidant in your life. 

“He hit me. A lot. All the time. He would force me to…. Do things I didn’t want to do. He wouldn’t let me leave the house, have friends, or do anything I wanted. It was all about him,” you stared past Mando, embarrassed to be admitting this. “I never wanted to marry him. I was forced. I was stupid.” Tears began pooling at the corners of your eyes. 

“Oh,” Mando mumbled your name, leaning forward and lightly grasping your shoulders and pulling you into his embrace. “You were not and are not stupid.” He rested his cheek against the top of your head, and your tears started falling freely. “You don’t deserve any of this, fuck. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” you were on the brink of sobbing. This fucking sucked. 

“I am,” he rubbed your back comforting you, letting you cry. 

After a while he pulled you back, and you quickly wiped your tears so he wouldn’t see your now ruined makeup. “Sorry,” you sniffled.

“Shh, don’t be. Listen to me,” he was looking at you with intense, earnest eyes. “I will never, ever, ever let anything happen to you. I have experience with fuckers like your ex. That job I’m retired from? It had a lot to do with dealing with assholes like him. I will make sure you are safe. You have nothing to worry about.”

You stared at him with glassy eyes. “You don’t know how powerful this man is.” 

“I am more powerful,” his hands fell to your own. “Nothing will happen to you. Do you understand?”

You nodded meekly. 

“I need you to be with me as much as possible. He probably has informants in town if he called the restaurant.” He looked at the movie screen that was still showing pre-show ads. “We should probably leave here.”

You whined, “No, I really want to see this movie.”

He looked back at you sighing. “Okay, but after this we need to take a car back to the hotel and discuss the plan. I’ll need to make some calls tonight.”

Your brows knit together. “You aren’t gonna like--kill him, right?”

“No, now come here,” he pulled you forward again, pulling you into a meaningful, deep kiss. It made your blood run with a familiar feeling.

It was halfway through the movie, and you were bored and anxious. The movie hadn’t been half as good as you thought it would be. You looked around the auditorium and noticed that there weren’t any people around you and Mando, they were spread all across the seats below y’all. You looked at him, and he was very invested in the movie, eyes glued to the action unfolding in front of him. You looked him up and down, your eyes continuously flickering to his lap. Your mind was full of a million emotions, but one was definitely lust. 

You discreetly slid your hand to the top of his thigh, lightly rubbing up and down the length. He smiled, but he didn’t take his eyes off the movie. You moved your hand up his thigh, settling at the groin, massaging the flesh. His eyes flickered down for a moment, but no acknowledgement. 

You continued rubbing him as you leaned over and placed a tender kiss on his neck. You opened your lips, running your tongue over the skin softly. You heard his breath catch, and you smiled. You sucked on the sensitive spot and moved your hand to his now hardening cock. 

He swallowed and parted his lips, and a devilish grin formed on your face as you continued to rub it through his jeans, your lips finding his earlobe. You quietly fiddled with the zipper and button of his pants, and his hand caught your wrist. 

“Are you sure you want to do that right now?” He whispered, concern all over his face. 

“Yeah, it will clear my mind,” you nodded, assuring him. He released your hand, and you got it all undone. You looked around the room again to make sure no one was around, and then pulled him out of the boxer-briefs. You were never short of awe when you saw his dick. It was a perfect dick, really. 

You wrapped your hand around it, and ran the pad of your thumb over the head. You grasped firmly and began to pump up and down the shaft. Mando’s head fell back on to the headrest as he tried to continue watching the movie. You weren’t getting the reaction you wanted from this, so you checked the area one more time and then lowered yourself from your seat to the floor of the theatre. It was sticky.

Mando was looking down discreetly through half lidded eyes as you crawled between his thighs. You grabbed him again, and peered up at him as you ran your tongue along the bottom side of his cock. He pressed his lips together as he watched you, reaching down to put your hair behind your shoulders. 

You closed your eyes and took all of him into your mouth and down your throat. Mando sucked a breath in through his teeth as he made contact with the back of your throat. You took this as encouragement and slowly pulled your head up, allowing your teeth to lightly graze against him.

He shuddered involuntarily as you picked up the pace and bobbed your head up and down. He glanced around seemingly becoming nervous, but you continued on.

You reached your hand up and wrapped it around him, sliding and twisting your hand up and down his length following the rhythm. He was pulsing in your mouth against your tongue as you worked it against the shaft. You ran your free hand up his shaft, feeling his flexing abdomen muscles beneath your fingertips. 

He placed his hand on your head, not too forcefully, just to help guide your motions and hold your hair out of the way as you continued moving your mouth up and down his needy cock. His breathing was louder, and his eyes were glued to you. 

“Get up, I’m gonna cum,” he whispered a little louder than he thought. 

You shook your head as you continued sucking him. He tugged on your hair to make you come up, but you looked up at him continuing to jerk him off. 

“I want your cum in my mouth, please,” you pleaded. 

His mouth was open as you continued to move your hand rapidly, breath uneven, “I’m not--I’m not supposed to c-cum before you,” he continued to explain. 

“You deserve it,” you put him back in your mouth and sucked him more than you had before, tons of saliva pooling in your mouth. 

You felt him twitching against your tongue as hot cum hit your throat, his breath labored as he felt the release from somewhere deep within. His body shuddered as a wave of relaxation hit him, and he fell back limp in his seat. Breathless, he looked down at you with desire. 

You swallowed the remnants of your public debauchery before looking back up at him. Smiling, you wiped your mouth and crawled back in your seat, panning the room once again for any on-lookers. You couldn’t believe you had just done that. Seeing him so satisfied made you feel accomplished, and though you wanted to just make him feel good you found yourself wanting him to be deep inside of you in the middle of this movie theatre. 

He was rebuttoning his pants when he leaned over to you. “Fuck, you’re so good,” he whispered in your ear after catching his breath. You smiled quite pleased with your performance. 

“Thank you,” he said as he slipped his hand into yours while the movie continued to play. 

Once the movie ended, Mando called for a car just like he had mentioned earlier and y’all made your way back to the hotel.


	8. Northbound

“So, what do we do?” you asked Mando as you sat on the chair in the corner of his room. He was sitting on the bed, thumbing through his phone formulating a plan for your assurance of safety. 

“Trying to figure it out,” he mumbled. After your date last night, Mando had thought it best that you stayed with him for the night. And all nights, really. You had had a nice time distracting yourself the previous evening, but now it was time to get serious about what to do. You really didn’t want to go back “home.” 

He looked up at you, sighing through his nose. “We will have to leave town.” His face was tired and worried, a plethora of emotions swirling behind his eyes. 

“Mando, that’s ridiculous, I don’t have to leave town, and even if I did, you wouldn’t need to go. This is your new home, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” you leaned forward putting your elbows on your knees. 

He shook his head. “This is a very, very small city. They know where you are, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was already someone here at the hotel watching you. We need to discreetly leave the city and go somewhere that no one would ever suspect.”

“Is it really that serious?” You frowned. 

“Yes. But don’t worry, I promise I have this figured out,” he walked over to you, standing in front of you and running his index finger over your lips. “I need you to go pack up and get ready to leave. I’m going to make some reservations, square some stuff away.” 

And with that, you left the room completely overwhelmed. You trusted Mando, you thought, he seemed to be genuine, but you really still didn’t know him all that well. But in your current predicament, you were willing to try anything. And leaving to some remote town with your fuck buddy was definitely something to try. 

Mando was in a tough position. He had agreed to get back into the line of work he had come to despise just for the money, and he found quickly that he couldn’t do it. If it had been any other target in the world, it would have been easy, but he couldn’t do this to her. Not only was she fleeing from the shittiest situation of all time, but she was special to him. In all his years of solitude and loneliness he had never found someone that made him feel the whirlwind of emotions she did. 

He had been around the block plenty of times, sleeping with tons of people throughout his life as a hunter. But no one had ever lingered in his mind the way that she did. He had been foolish to even think this was an undertaking that would be anything less than impossible. 

As he paced around the room putting things in his duffle bag and suitcase, his pocket began to vibrate, jarring him from his thoughts. When he pulled it out of the pocket, he wasn’t surprised to see Traeger Schulz’s name on the screen. He took a breath and prepared himself for what he was sure would be a war to come.

“Hello,” Mando said plainly.

“Mando, I’m sorely disappointed in your efforts to return my wife to me,” he paused. “Honestly, I thought you people were held to a high standard with a strict set of rules to follow. I just knew you, of all people, wouldn’t be fucking my wife...would you?” 

Mando chuckled lightly listening to Traeger try to play tough. “Absolutely not.” 

Mando continued to gather the remnants of his things and put them in his bags, and hoped that she was doing the same.

“I became suspicious of your motivations when it took you more than a couple of days to return my wife. I sent some of my men out there for...backup. Turns out she leaves your hotel room almost every morning. How peculiar,” the German accent was thick as his anger became more evident in his voice.  
“Well, efforts to return her to you require thorough research methods that don’t make her suspicious of me. Considering the business you’re in, I was certain you would know that, Traeger,” Mando said tauntingly.

“Thorough research, you say? You mean to tell me that your research led you between my wife’s legs?” Traeger’s voice was steadily rising with each word he spoke.

“Gotta do what you gotta do,” Mando was almost completely finished packing. “You know, she has this reeeally sensitive spot behind her ear. She loves it when--” He was just being an asshole at this point. On purpose. 

“Shut the fuck up, Mando,” Traeger yelled, interrupting him. “The Death Troopers are on their way to collect her and tie up the loose ends as we speak. 

Mando hadn’t been concerned until now. He had to act fast. He’d heard plenty of stories about Shulz and Gideon’s Death Trooper squad. They were only utilized for the most dangerous or important missions, and nothing good could come from them being on the way to get her right now. 

“Alright, Schulz. Tell yourself what you want, but I’m out. I’m sending your money back to you tonight, and I can promise you that you will never see your ex-wife again. Goodbye.” Mando hastily hung up the phone, pulled the sim card out, and flushed it down the toilet. He grabbed the remaining things in the room, hurriedly zooming out the door to her room. 

You heard someone knocking on the door and immediately opened it. Your bags were sitting by the bathroom door, packed and ready.

“Grab your things, we gotta go now,” Mando called.

“What’s the rush? Is something wrong?,” you asked, very confused. You were absolutely terrified. You turned to grab your bags, but you obviously weren't moving fast enough. Mando rushed past you grabbing your bags and slinging them over his shoulder. 

“I’ll explain in the car. Come on, let’s go.” We have to get out of here quickly. There’s a car in front of the hotel,” Mando rushed you down the hall and toward the lobby.

A sleek, black SUV was sitting out front waiting. Mando hit a button on the key fob, making the back hatch open. He slung the bags inside while you climbed into the passenger seat. 

The rush of emotions you were feeling at this point were almost too much to bear. A mix of fear, anxiety, and confusion swirled in you. You were still puzzled at his urgency to leave New Orleans but felt it was in your best interest to go with him.

“Nothing is going to happen to you,” he started as he slid into the driver’s seat. “That fucking bastard will never put his hands on you again.”

“Mando, I still want to know why we have to leave like this?” you questioned him. As you studied his face, you noticed that he looked as if he was looking for something. He threw the car in drive, staring in one particular direction. You followed his gaze and immediately spotted what he was focused on. Three men in solid black suits were making their way towards the hotel you’d just exited.

“Shit, you have to go, those are Traeger’s men,” you said.

He calmly pulled away from the curve, as if he was trying to avoid drawing attention to the two of you. 

As he pulled onto the on ramp for I-10, you calmly questioned him, “How did you know they were coming?”

“It’s part of my job to know things like this. I assumed that since he knew where you were, he already knew where you were staying, too. I knew if we stood any chance of getting away, we had to leave as soon as possible,” He replied.

You sighed, “I knew they would find me eventually, but i didn’t intend on putting you in the middle of my shit storm. I basically ruined whatever it was you were trying to build for yourself here, and for that, I am truly sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize for this,” he said your name. “But I do have to make a phone call right quick. Hopefully those men haven’t realized we’ve left the hotel yet. Can I borrow your phone? Mine is dead.”

You pulled your phone out of your pocket and handed it to him, watching him as he quickly dialed a number while weaving through the crowded west bound interstate.

“Cara, listen I had to leave. Work stuff,” your ears perked up at the mention of both her name and his occupation. What did this man do for a living? 

“I need you to do something for me. There are some men that are looking for us back at the hotel. Can you handle it?” He was focused intently on the road ahead. He paused listening to her reply.

“Thank you. I owe you one, Cara. Seriously,” he hung the phone up, handing it back to you.

The more space you put between yourself and Traeger’s men, the more at ease you felt. Traffic was thinning out slightly as you neared the Pontchartrain Lake bridge.

“Where are we headed?” you queried.

“Shreveport, have you ever heard of it?” he asked.

You considered his question momentarily, “No. I can’t say that I have. Where is that at?” you yawned. All of your adrenaline was dissipating and exhaustion was moving in.

“You’ll see. It’s still in Louisiana, just a couple hundred miles further north,” he looked at you, studying your face. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you sleep? I’ll wake you if I need to.”

And with that, you allowed yourself to rest.

When you woke up, you expected to see sunlight coming through the window but you were greeted with the pitter patter of raindrops hitting the glass and thunder rolling. Well, the weather was certainly conducive to the mood you were in. 

You were in a new and strange environment, a new hotel room that was nicely decorated and modern. You didn’t even remember getting out of the car and into this bed. You must have had a major crash from all the adrenaline of leaving New Orleans. You stared up at the ceiling trying to gather your thoughts, and turned your head to the side. You were surprised to see Mando laid there on his stomach, face smashed against the pillow, lips parted. He looked peaceful sleeping. You knew he needed it after the events of the past few days. 

You slipped out of bed carefully, so that you didn’t disturb him. As you quietly stepped towards the bathroom, the coffee maker caught your eye. Caffeine sounded like what you needed on this dreary day. You got the pot going, and put on one of the robes and the first pair of shoes you got your hands on. You scribbled a note letting him know where you went before you lightly closed the door behind you and made your way to the continental breakfast.

When you got back up to the room, Mando was walking across the room towards the bed with two cups of the coffee you’d made. His hair was tousled from his sleep, and he hadn’t dressed yet. 

You kicked your shoes off and followed him back to the bed carrying the two plates of food you’d fixed downstairs. 

“Waffles?” he looked over and smirked at you.

“Yeah, do you like those? I just kind of grabbed a bunch of things,” you laid the plates on the middle of the bed as you sat at the headboard, Mando mirroring your action. 

“It’s great,” he leaned forward grabbing a waffle and eating it just like that with his bare hands.

“I have syrup. And a plate,” you looked at him as he absolutely obliterated the thing.

“I don’t like syrup, and I don’t need a plate,” he was talking with a full mouth. 

“You don’t like syrup? That’s sacrilege,” you feigned horror. Though it was ridiculous to not like syrup. 

“It’s way too sweet. How did you sleep? How are you feeling?” He looked over at you as he peeled an orange. 

You sighed. You didn’t know how to answer the question because it was a very complex one. You felt slightly safer having gotten away from New Orleans, but who was to say Traeger already had men here in this new town. You were happy to be with Mando, but the circumstances really sucked. You really felt horrible about making him uproot his life. But you just settled for the easy answer.

“I’m fine. You?”

“I’m good,” he leaned back, tearing the orange apart. “I was really tired.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. You should have woken me up, I could have driven for a while,” you looked at the completely overfilled plate. “What time did we even get here?”

“Around 4am. I knew you needed the rest, so I just carried you and put you in the bed.” he grabbed the now finished plates of food moving them to the bedside table. “Do you feel safe?”

“I think so. I’m just scared that they know where we are,” you fiddled with the hem of the robe as you spoke.

“I will keep reminding you. You are going to be fine,” he ran two callous fingertips along the skin of your knee. “I am going to take a shower.” he said as he stood up from the bed. As he walked past you headed toward the bathroom, he planted a kiss on your lips. The contact made you shudder. 

Your eyes roamed his toned body as he disappeared out of sight. Taking in the golden hue of his skin with the hard lines that created the physique you had grown to love mixed with the golden amber flecks in his dark eyes, you realized that you really, really liked him. And in another life you would have wanted a life with him. Whenever you were able to establish yourself and make it on your own, you figured you would never see him again. And it made you pretty sad. He was a near perfect man. 

Though you had just gotten plenty of sleep, you allowed yourself to doze on the bed to the calming sounds of the rain on the window and Mando’s soft hums in the shower. You were serene for once. 

Your silent dozing was interrupted a few moments later. 

“Hey,” he called your name. “Can you grab me some clothes out of my bag?”

“Sure,” you called as you got up and walked over to the corner of the room where the bags had been left. You sifted through the contents of the duffle bag looking for the clothes, but froze when you spotted the shiny barrel of a gun sticking out of one of his rolled up shirts. Your eyes widened as you moved the shirt around to get a better look at the weapon. It was a real deal gun. You placed the shirt back over the gun, and grabbed an outfit. You weren’t going to say anything, you were honestly trying to respect how private he was. He was still showering when you brought the clothes in and left them on the counter. 

“There you go,” you said walking back in the bedroom. 

You sat on the bed and your eyes kept wandering back to the bag. You had never touched a real gun before. You had seen them plenty of times, but you never got to feel it. You didn’t think that Mando had this weapon for any nefarious reasons, but you were so curious as to why he was travelling with it. Maybe he was into shooting sports. 

He was taking his time, and you started to think that you had time to go examine the thing. You looked over your shoulder at the open bathroom door, making sure he was indeed still in there, and once you confirmed that, you walked quickly to the bag.

You uncovered the silver metal and grabbed it by the handle with two fingers, pulling it out fully. You examined the intricate detailing in the steel, noticing a small emblem of a skull of some sort. It had the word “Mandalorian” written in a beautiful calligraphy surrounding it. 

You looked closer. “Mandalorian,” you whispered to yourself. “That must be the organization.” 

You shifted the gun in your hands and held it like a cowboy. You pointed it around the room pretending to be a grade A gunslinger. You were doing all the tricks you had always seen in the movies with this thing. You felt badass. 

You were so into it that you didn’t notice the shower being turned off and Mando entering the room. 

“What the hell are you doing?” He startled you. Your head snapped back to see Mando standing at the door of the bathroom in his new clothes, hair still wet. 

He rushed over grabbing the gun out of your hands. “Do you know how dangerous these things are?”

You were kind of pissed he just took the thing. You were having fun. 

“Then why do you have one?” You crossed your arms. 

“Because I have to protect you,” he said slightly annoyed as he put it back where you had found it. 

“I mean, you didn’t get that gun to protect me. What’s it for?” 

He sighed. “My line of work.”

“Are you ever going to--” You stopped yourself, reminding yourself that you were trying to be less invasive. “Nevermind. Just don’t tell girls to go digging through your shit if you don’t want them to play cowboy with your gun that is very unsafely just floating about your luggage.” 

He looked back at you with an annoyed expression that quickly turned to a smirk. “Smartass.” 

“Always,” you smiled as you sat back on the bed. 

He sat next to you and placed a hand on your thigh. 

“I’m going to get you somewhere safe where you can start a new life. My only goal right now is to ensure that I can take you somewhere where you can have a normal life,” he peered at you through the damp locks that were curtaining his face. 

“When will that be?” You leaned back on your hands. 

“I hope to have it worked out for you as soon as possible. Maybe a month,” he was continuously massaging your flesh. 

You waited a moment before continuing. “Will I ever see you again after that?” 

His hand stopped.  
“Maybe. I will go back to New Orleans, try to start my retirement again. We may never see each other again,” he had sad eyes. You knew that was the case, but to have it confirmed sucked. 

“I figured,” you sighed. 

“Did you want to see me again?” His fingers were lightly grazing the inside of your thigh, leaving a path of chill bumps behind them. 

You were taken by the eyes again. It never failed. 

“I mean. Maybe. I enjoy you. You make me smile.” You were so nervous for no reason. 

“I enjoy you, too,” he reached a hand around you, pulling you into his side. He kissed you lightly before pulling back to study your face.

The silence was comfortable, but you had a burning question at the front of your head. 

“Mando?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever shot someone with that gun?” You tilted your head, gazing up at him. 

His face was unmoving, eyes still scanning every inch of your face. 

“Yes.” 

“Was it self-defense?” 

“Yes.” 

“I see.” 

He bit his bottom lip, still just simply staring at you.

“Do you think differently of me now that you know I’ve killed someone?” His voice was barely audible. 

You immediately shook your head. “No. Not at all.” 

“Promise?” His eyes were running rampant with worry, sadness, fear, excitement, a million different things. 

“I promise. Why do you trust me?” You were genuinely interested in the answer to that question.

“I just do,” his hand was now moving to the neckline of your robe, fingers breaching the security of the fabric and caressing the soft skin of your decolletage. 

You untied the belt to your robe, letting either side slide down your arms and exposing your body to him. His hand found your stomach rubbing the flesh and pushing you back. He leaned down leaving kisses all over your chest, nipping at you lightly in some areas. You laced your fingers through his hair and watched his mouth move against you. He was readjusting himself to get on top of you when you placed your palms on his chest, stopping him abruptly. 

“I want to be on top,” you were shifting to move him below you, letting the robe fall completely off as you did. 

After you had positioned yourself on top of him, you ran your hands down his chest and back up again. He reached upward, grabbing a breast, as his eyes swept over your body. He wrapped another hand around your waist, not wanting to award too much control, and brought your chest toward his lips. His mouth made contact with one of your nipples, and he started swirling and flickering his tongue over it. The sensation made it harden. As he ran his hands up and down your back, you lightly sighed in pleasure, enjoying the feeling of him making contact with you. You ran your hands through his hair, disconnecting his mouth from your tits and placed a few soft kisses on his neck. You moved your kisses upward, your lips parted as they met his, his tongue sliding inside tasting you.

He ran his hands along your spine down to your ass grabbing the flesh and kneading it, then letting them fall to your hips. You could feel his hardening cock beneath you as you made tiny movements against him. The wetness pooled at your core with every backwards and forwards motion your exposed skin made against him. You were already mewling from the friction on your clit from his jeans. 

His hands moved to his button and zipper, but his eyes didn’t leave you. He opened his pants, pulling his massive dick out in the process.

Without a word you sat up straight, grabbing his dick and rubbing it along the inside of your slick folds. You steadied it, and then slowly sank onto his entire length, the girth splitting you apart. Your head fell back as you let out a moan of satisfaction. 

“Fuck, it feels so good, Mando,” you were never short of astounded by his sheer size. You planted your hands on his firm chest for leverage as you began bouncing softly, slowly on his cock. 

He rested his hands on your inner thighs, and he traced a fingertip to your clit and began rubbing his thumb over the swollen spot.

You were so immersed in the stinging feeling of his driving cock inside of you, mixed with the sensitive sensation of the circles he was drawing on your clit that nothing else mattered. All that mattered at this moment in time was him. You looked down at him through hooded eyes seeing his perfectly carved face that was contorted in pleasure, biting his lip, and all you could see was someone that you knew not a thing about, but you cared for immensely. 

“You’re so--so beautiful,” he sputtered out as he watched himself disappear and reappear from deep within you. His gaze moved to your face. “Beautiful,” he breathed. 

You didn’t respond, rather you closed your eyes trying to enjoy every minute of this experience. You knew that soon enough, this would be no more, you would never feel like this again, and, God, did he know how to make you feel incredible. 

And while you were basking the feeling of his incredible dick and the warm feeling in your chest, there came a loud banging on the door of the room.

“Open up,” the female voice called through the threshold. 

Your eyes shot open and you looked over your shoulder to the door, body freezing when you heard it. Mando sat up straight quickly looking with you. Well, that moment was completely ruined. 

He wrapped an arm around you and threw you to the bed. “Cover up,” he said quietly as he buttoned his pants back up and grabbed the gun that caused this whole situation. He was on high alert walking to the door, gun in hand, moving with pure spy-like agility. You were lying under the covers of the bed absolutely terrified at what lurked behind the door. How could they have found you so quickly?

Mando peered through the peephole, looking intently when he sighed. “Fuck.”

“What? Who is it?” you asked so quietly, a pure look of worry overtaking your face. 

“It’s Cara,” he groaned as he opened the door. “What the fuck, man? I didn’t know you were coming here.” He was shoving the gun in the back waistband of his pants. “Come on.”

You were stunned, so you just laid there looking at the woman walk into the room completely forgetting you were naked under the sheet. She walked over to the armchair opposite the bed and plopped down. 

“I tried calling,” she shrugged. “You didn’t pick up.” She was dressed similarly to the way she had been the last time you saw her. She was in all black, clunky combat boots on her feet. She was beautiful, but she exuded “don’t fuck with me” energy. Her eyes found you and then rolled to the back of her head. 

“You were having sex in a time like this, Mando?” She looked back over to him with a scoff. “We have big issues afoot, and you couldn’t wait like a day?”

He was leaning against the wall when he looked over to you. “We are going to leave the room to talk about what comes next. You get dressed, okay?” 

You hadn’t spoken a word yet, and you still weren’t going to. You nodded. 

As Cara stood she looked to you again giving you a smirk. “Good to see you again.” 

You watched them leave the room as your heart rate began to lower.


	9. Perfection

Mando sat in the lobby of the Remington with Cara staring out the window at all the passersby. 

“So, you are going to risk actual death to save this girl? You’re insane,” Cara chuckled in disbelief. 

“She doesn’t deserve to go back to what is inevitably in store for her if that man has any say in where she is going. I cannot let it happen, it would be against my creed,” he bit his lip as he continued staring out the window. 

“But I mean, you know how powerful Traeger is. He could literally have you killed and not a soul would know. I really put my ass on the line dealing with those guys at the hotel in New Orleans, Mando,” she sat back, clearly tired from the past day's events. “You know he’s in Louisiana, right? And her dad.”

“Figured as much,” he looked at her. “I mean they can’t force her to go anywhere. I won’t let it happen.”

She paused for a moment, considering him. “What is it about her?”

“If it were anyone I would help them out of this shit.”

Cara scoffed completely amused. “You and I both know that isn’t true. You were so sure about this job, but the moment you laid eyes on her it changed.” She smiled as she looked around the lobby. “Mando’s got a crush.”

“Fuck you,” he shifted in his seat. “So, why did you drive all this way?”

She shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. Considering you are harboring the fugitive wife of the most powerful man in the entire world, I figured I would stay close by so I can be around for your inevitable funeral.”

“Funny,” he rolled his eyes as he stood. “Are you sticking around or?”

“Yeah. I’m going to stay in a hotel nearby. In case you need me,” she sighed. “Real stupid of you, Mando.”

“I really don’t care,” he retorted as he walked back to return to the girl. 

A few days had passed, and your nerves were starting to settle. Of course it always loomed at the back of your mind that Traeger was presumably in the same state as you, but you let yourself unwind and relax. Mando had done an incredible job of making you feel secure, and sexually satiated. 

You had been essentially living with him for almost a week. You slept in the same bed, shared all the living space, it was so strange to you. You had never really been used to sharing much space with anyone because Traeger was always gone, and when he was home, you hated being around him, so you would isolate yourself. He didn’t like that, so you were always the brunt of his lashing out. 

Mando was quiet. Way more quiet than you had previously thought. He wasn’t big on conversation, just a few exchanges here and there before you would inevitably end up with him inside you at some point. You didn’t mind much, but your yearning for information, anything at all about him, grew stronger all the time. Today, you were lounging about watching TV, he was on the other side of the room reading some local magazine. 

You were watching him discreetly taking in everything you could see. You never got over how absolutely stunning he was. His hair was always so unkempt, but so beautiful. It was ridiculous how much you liked him, how strong your little crush was. You had kept yourself from asking questions for a while now, so you wanted to test the waters again. 

“Mando?” You sat up straight on the blue silk embroidered couch. His endless eyes met yours.

“Yeah?”

“Where are you from?” You were keeping it simple.

“Far, far away,” he replied as he closed the magazine. Vague much. 

“Ah,” your shoulders slumped. You turned off the TV. “What’s your zodiac sign?”

“My what?” he looked confused.

“Your zodiac sign. No, let me guess,” you were good at this, you always could tell. “Ummm….Aquarius?”

“Oh, the horoscope bullshit,” he chuckled as his face softened. “I don’t know.”

“How could you not know? Like that’s today’s deciding factor for friendship,” you were genuinely concerned he didn’t know this information.

“I’m a little old for that,” he said as he grabbed the small glass of whiskey next to him. The two of you had needed a bottle after everything. 

“Uh, no you’re not. When’s your birthday?” You were eager to find out if your Aquarius assumptions were right. 

He picked the magazine back up and opened the page to where he had been. He seemed uncomfortable with the question, shifting in his seat as he looked at the pages. 

“July ninth,” he mumbled as he gazed at the words in front of him. 

You stopped for a moment, thought, and then you gasped.

“Mando!” you were appalled. “That was last week! You didn’t tell me!” 

“I don’t like birthdays, they’re pointless,” he looked back at you again, unamused. 

“That’s insane, I would have done something for you,” your brow furrowed, sad you missed the opportunity to do something just for him.

“It’s really fine. I was with you that day, I think, that’s good enough for me,” he went back to his reading. 

You couldn’t believe it. You loved birthdays. It was something you were good at, buying the perfect gift, throwing the perfect party. Of course, Mando wouldn’t want a party, but you could have bought him a nice bottle of whiskey or tried a little harder in bed or something if you had known. Though he said he hated birthdays, you couldn’t let it go. You had to do something, because he had done so much for you. 

You watched TV for a few more hours, and Mando had been in and out patrolling the area, getting food and other things. You had been waiting for the perfect moment to try to convince him to let you go out alone, and now seemed to be the time. It was nearing 5 o’clock, so you needed to go now if you were going to.

You were opening the door when you felt his hand on your back. 

“Where are you going?” he was looking down at you with parental-esque scrutiny. 

“I’m going to go to that little store on the corner,” you tried to play it cool. 

“Okay, let me get my wallet,” he turned on his heel to grab his things. 

“No, no, I want to go alone,” you said calmly. 

“Can’t let you do that,” he said confidently as he grabbed his wallet and shoved it in his back pocket. He was standing by your side again. “Let’s go.”

“Please let me go alone. I will be fine,” you pleaded, bottom lip sticking out hoping that the cute pout would work. 

“Don’t want to be around me?” He tilted his head, face stoic.

“It’s not that. I just--” you looked at the ground searching for an excuse. “I just like being independent. I couldn’t go anywhere by myself with my ex. And I won’t be long. I’ll be so fast. Please, Mando?”

His eyes studied your sullen face as he bit his lip. You knew the pouting guilt trip would work. 

“Okay, but be fast. If you aren’t back in under twenty minutes, I’m going to come for you,” he said as he moved a loose strand of hair from your face. “Go.”

You smiled and darted out the door and down the hall. 

The small store was only a block away from the hotel, and it was far from crowded. It was the perfect place to buy the fixings for a small party. 

You were walking down the aisles trying to decide what to make for him. You weren’t much of a cook, but the thought should count. You thought back on the times you had eaten together. He seemed to keep it simple: steaks, vegetables, a glass of whiskey to wash it all down. You decided to buy two filet mignons, some fresh vegetables to make a humble medley, and some prepackaged baguette. You bought the most expensive bottle of bourbon you could find in a small town store, and bought some birthday party supplies. The only stuff you could find had some childrens’ cartoon characters on it, but it would have to do. You finally walked to the bakery and bought a small, nondescript white cake. You had been gone for ten minutes, so you hurried to the check out and got the hell out of there. 

You entered the hotel room, discreetly stowing all your bags away in the closet as you walked in. You sauntered into the living room to see Mando sitting on the bed staring at you, as if he had only sat there and waited for you the entire time you were gone. 

“You got back with three seconds to spare. Good job,” he said as he looked at his watch. “How was your moment of independence?”

“Fantastic, thank you again for that,” you leaned against the wall. “Hey, so, just trust me and ask no questions when I tell you the next sentence okay?”

“I’ll try my best,” he said, interested in your words.

“I need you to, like go to the lobby for a while. I will come get you when it’s cool for you to come back.” You put a hand on your hip to feign confidence. 

He stood up, tall and handsome as ever. “Yes, ma’am.” And then he left. You hadn’t thought it would be so easy. 

You got to work immediately on your little party. You wanted nothing more than to make this man feel special. You made the steak the best you could with limited resources and time. You sauteed the veggies with the few spices you had picked up, and you chilled the whiskey. 

You hung the childrens’ “Happy Birthday” banner over the small dining table in the room, and set the table with the plastic and paper dining materials. You grabbed the small cake and placed it in the middle of the table. You were working so fast that you almost forgot to put the candles in it, but you did. You fixed the two plates and set them down, taking a moment to look around the room. You had done well for only a small amount of time. 

You went to your luggage and pulled out a set of lacy black lingerie, slipping it on quickly before throwing a tight but flattering black slip dress over it. He liked when you dressed like that. 

You were about to leave the room to go get him when you realized that you hadn’t actually gotten him a gift. You looked around the room wondering if you had anything you could give him when your eyes rested on the small notepad on the side table by the bed. You would make him a homemade card. 

You weren’t sure what to put on it, so you simply wrote: 

Thanks for taking care of me. Thanks for being so amazing. Happy birthday, Mando.

You scribbled your name at the bottom, and you were set. 

You nervously walked into the lobby to see Mando sitting at the bar making conversation with a woman. You were going to be less presumptuous this time, and just play it cool. Something about the way the woman was laughing and watching him, just struck a nerve. 

You walked up behind him, snaking your hands around his waist. He turned his attention from the blonde, and he smiled at you big. 

“You look so pretty,” he brushed his fingers along your arm. 

“This your girlfriend?” The girl looked at you unimpressed. 

Mando was looking at you like you were the fucking Mona Lisa. “You ready for me?” He ignored the blonde.

“Yeah, come on,” you said grabbing his hand, as you walked back toward the room. 

When you were at the door you turned to Mando. “Okay, don’t come in till I say come.”

“Okay,” he said, watching you disappear into the room. Everything was set, you just had to light the candles. You lit them, and then called him in. 

You stood behind the dinner table nervously as he walked in. “Happy birthday!” You smiled awkwardly. 

Mando looked around at the silly decor and the table, the little cake with the burning candles on it. 

“You have to come make a wish,” you pointed down to it.

He was wordless as he walked over, expressionless even. Fuck, you made him mad. 

He stood in front of the table looking down at the cake and the home cooked meal. He gazed at it for a moment before bending down and closing his eyes. He blew out the flames, and stood back up. You were searching his face for any indication of how bad you fucked up. 

To your surprise, he smiled. Like full on, goofy, silly ass smiled.

“Why did you do all this?” He gestured to the hanging banner. 

“I wanted to do something nice for you. You do a lot for me, and I just love birthdays so much. You aren’t mad at me?” You wanted to be sure. 

“Why would I be mad?” he was walking around the table now, stopping in front of you and wrapping an arm around your waist.

“I don’t know, you said you hate birthdays, but I couldn’t help myself,” you looked at his chest, not wanting to meet eyes.

His index finger was on the bottom of your chin, lifting your gaze to his own. “This is amazing. I love it.” 

You finally cracked a small smile. “Oh!”

You reached over and grabbed the makeshift card. “I forgot to get you a present, but I did this instead.”

He took the small piece of folded paper and opened it, reading your words. He chuckled lightly to himself. 

“Thank you so much,” he leaned down, leaving a soft, long kiss on your lips. “You’re perfect.”

“Stop,” you said with a giggle as you sat in one of the chairs. “Let’s eat.” 

Over dinner and a few glasses of whiskey in, you were shocked to get some information out of him. You learned he was an orphan who had lost his parents at a young age to a horrible accident, and that the organization he joined kind of raised him. He wouldn’t talk much about the organization or the work he did, but he wasn’t very proud of some of it. He had asked about you and your life, and you told him everything. You told him about your privileged upbringing attending private schools in Switzerland and growing up never wanting for anything. You confided in him that you felt like you deserved to be sold off to some powerful man because you felt like you had no life skills. He had assured you that that wasn’t true, and he again affirmed that he would make sure you got the life you deserved. 

Things got personal. He asked you if you had ever been in love. You told him that you loved someone in high school, and you had wanted to be with them more than anything in the world. But they had nothing to offer your family, so it would have been a moot point to even try to pursue it. You knew he hadn’t, he had told you that before, that he never told anyone his name. So, you asked about it. You asked him how he had never loved in all the years he had been alive. To which, he couldn’t give an answer. He simply said he had never been impressed with anyone before. And that was progress. You knew more about him now than ever. 

After the cake was eaten and you both had a fair amount of alcohol in your system, you decided to clean up. 

“You put that down, it’s your birthday party, I’m cleaning for you,” you scolded as you took the trash from his hands. 

You were standing in the kitchenette, tidying up as you heard him walking near. You looked over, and his face was lit up with that brilliant smile. 

“What you staring at?” You glanced at him before continuing to clean. 

“You,” he simply replied, leaning against the counter. 

“Why? I’m not much to look at,” you retorted.

Before you even registered it, Mando had picked you up and set you on the cool marble of the countertop. He stood between your parted thighs looking down at you. 

“Quit doing that,” he was looking at you with an intensity you hadn’t seen before, hands planted on your now exposed thighs as your dress had ridden up. 

You looked at him with doe eyes. “What?”

“Degrading yourself. You’re beautiful,” he was murmuring, but you heard him. “You’re the prettiest thing I have ever had the pleasure of looking at.”

You swallowed, completely intimidated by his presence. He was so big and just so utterly sexy. 

“I’m sorry,” you were barely audible. 

“How could you not know,” he continued as his hands ran up the length of your legs, “that you are perfect. I mean, look at these hips,” he said as he ran his fingertips over the curvature of them. His fingers traveled up to your waist and down the length of your belly. “This beautiful waist and stomach. And how could you forget the immaculacy of this,” his hands were now cupping your breasts over the dress. You were watching his hands’ every move, lips parted slightly. His flattened palm moved up your chest and your neck, his fingers brushing the skin of your lips. “Don’t get me started on these. They do wonderful things to me,” he leaned in leaving yet another soft kiss on your mouth. 

Mando continued to kiss you, peppering kisses along your jawline. He settled at your ear, tongue grazing the lobe. His hand was situated on your belly, lightly rubbing it. 

“But you know what I really, really like?” he mumbled, lips pressed to the sensitive skin below your earlobe. You closed your eyes, tilting your head to the side to give him more access. 

You shook your head.

His hand traveled lower, his fingers dipping into your panties. A strong finger moved up and down your lips which were practically dripping at this point. 

“This, I love this,” his voice was low and gruff, shaky as he continued to explore all of your folds. 

A quiet moan escaped your mouth as he found your clit, applying much needed pressure. Painfully slow, he rubbed sloppy circles on it. You leaned back allowing your hips to move forward and give him better access. He bit the skin of your neck so lightly, suckling on it just enough to leave a mark as his finger moved even lower, plunging inside of you. You jolted at the feeling. You were never tired of it. 

“I love it so much. You’re so good for me,” he spoke into your neck, his wet lips pressed against you. 

“Mando,” you breathed. He responded by returning to your clit, giving you a little more speed this time. 

“Tell me you know you’re perfect,” he said, his now hard length pushing into your leg. 

You didn’t respond, you just opened your legs further needing so much more.  
But then his finger was gone. 

His other hand was on your jaw forcing you to look at him. He said your name with purpose. 

“Why did you stop?” you pouted. 

“Tell me.”

You blinked at him. Unsure of how to say it without sounding ridiculous.

“Uh--I’m perfect?” You stammered. 

He let your jaw go. “I’ll make you believe it at some point.” He sighed as he got down on his knees, kneeling in front of your core. He pried your thighs apart, stretching them as far as they could go. He stared between your legs, making you feel self conscious for some reason. You felt so exposed like this, almost embarrassed. 

Your hand flew down to his jaw, prompting him to get up. “Hey, no, this is your birthday thing, you don’t have to do that.”

He swatted your hand away. “It’s literally all I want to do.” 

The words honestly made you melt a little. He was so hot. 

And with no warning at all, he pulled your panties to the side and his mouth was on you, taking you in, tasting all of you like it was the last thing he would ever taste. Your fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer still as his tongue invaded every part of your pussy. 

His hands were tightly gripped to your thighs, while his tongue moved methodically and quickly against you. You looked down, watching as he simply obliterated your being. 

He hummed in delight as he sealed his mouth around your clit, sucking gently and flicking his tongue against it. At this point, though you looked so vulgar spread on the kitchen counter like this, all that mattered was him and you. Your moans were deafening, it had never felt like this before. Granted, he was always good, but this was another level. 

Your thighs tightened around his head, and he became more animalistic. Grunts and groans were now sending shockwaves through your pussy to the rest of your body threatening to spill you over the edge. 

“Mando, please, please fuck me,” you begged through stuttered breaths. 

He reluctantly pulled back, looking up at you from the floor. He stood up, never breaking eye contact with you, fumbling with his pants to pull out his cock. You would normally look down and gawk at the beauty of it, but you can’t leave his eyes. There’s something there that you had never seen before. 

He pushed into you, and you barely noticed because you were so taken by the look in his eye. His mouth met yours again, and he began to thrust in and out, hitting your walls deep inside you everytime. You wrapped your legs around him, wanting him to be as close to you as possible, as deep as possible, and you kissed him like you’d never see him again. 

You weren’t sure how long had passed, but you were seeing stars, you were seeing red. Though your eyes were tightly shut as you came, you were seeing him through your bliss. Only him. As you rode out the intense orgasm, you came back to reality, to the sounds of your rugged breathing and his, his mouth still tightly connected to your own. 

After you both had a moment to collect yourselves, he pulled back, falling out of you in the process. You looked at him, pressing your palm to his cheek. 

“Happy birthday, Mando,” you smiled, chest still falling and rising rapidly. 

He gave you a kiss on the forehead as he adjusted his pants. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” he looked over to the bathroom door. “I’ve gotta take a shower. All sweaty.”

And then he was gone. 

Mando stood in the bathroom staring in the mirror. He was unsure of who he was looking at. A man who would risk his life for someone he barely knew? A man who let his personal feelings get in the way of work? This wasn’t like him. No one in his entire life had ever cared enough to do anything for him. He was always doing something for someone else. He hadn’t even gotten close to the feelings that were coursing through him right now with another person. He had been denying it since the moment he met her. Hell, he had even tried chatting up some dumb blonde at the hotel bar. But he couldn’t shake the soft spot for her. 

He hated birthdays because no one ever remembered or cared enough to do something for him. 

But she had.

He had never looked at someone the way he looked at her. He had never felt the swell in his chest. 

To his own detriment, he loved her. He fucking loved her.


	10. VIP Treatment

You had a bad, bad case of cabin fever. 

You’d practically begged him to get out of the hotel. The stagnance of not doing anything outside of the same four walls for the last two weeks was driving you insane. 

After batting your eyelashes at him and maybe doing a few other favors, he’d finally caved and told you to get dressed. He wasn’t aware of it, but you’d already done some digging, and you knew exactly where you wanted to spend your night. 

When you emerged from the bathroom, Mando’s eyes grew wide and his breath caught in his throat. You’d decided on wearing a little more makeup than usual paired with a bright red lipstick. Your hair was swept up in a sleek, high ponytail. You’d paired your tallest black red bottoms with a low-backed, short cocktail dress that left little to the imagination. You went minimal with the jewelry, only putting on a dainty choker and a pair of simplistic silver hoop earrings.

“You really think I’m going to let you go out like that?” He looked at you incredulously. “The goal is to not draw attention to yourself.”

“You think this will garner some attention?” You said coyly, giving him a little turn. 

“I’m sure you’ll get more than some attention,” he said, pulling you to him. His calloused hand was practically gripped around your bare ass cheek because of how short your dress was. You didn’t mind it at all. It was liberating to get to wear stuff that made you feel good without being ridiculed for it. 

“I’m sure I can handle it,” you placed your hands on his chest. He smelled so good tonight, sandalwood and leather radiated from him. He was in the usual outfit: t-shirt, jeans, leather jacket. You fiddled with the bright silver hardware on his jacket as his hand traversed the curves of the back of your body. 

“Where we going tonight?” he looked down at you through hooded eyes. At this point you knew what this kind of look meant. He wanted to devour you, but you desperately wanted to get out, so you ignored it. 

“I guess you’ll just have to follow me to find out,” you said innocently. 

His lustful gaze hardened for just a moment as he spoke, “Okay, but don’t leave my sight, stay close, and don’t talk to strangers. All right?”

You rolled your eyes so hard it hurt. “Okay, dad.” 

You took his hand and led him two blocks from the hotel. 

The priceless look of shock that crossed his face when you dragged him in the door of the Hustler Club was one that you decided to commit to memory. 

“Isn’t this a strip club?” He looked at you with confusion. 

“Last I checked,” you smirked. “Come on.”

He paid the cover charge and walked you in, a hand pressed firmly and protectively at the small of your back. The place was spacious. It was dark, only illuminated by the dim shine of neon lights lining the walls and the stage lights. There were three stages, one main and two side stages, all of which were occupied with beautiful women in eight inch heels swinging around poles. The bar was huge with a plethora of options and the walls were adorned with hilariously outdated photos from pornographic magazines. It was the perfect cheesy little nightclub you were searching for. 

You were escorted to a booth that was near one of the side stages. You slid across the velvet fabric and Mando followed suit, scooting right up beside you. Your eyes were on the woman in front of you. She was in the tallest heels you had ever seen, and her hair was so long the tips grazed the top of her thighs. She was in a small pink bikini that perfectly complemented her very deep skin. She was stunning. 

Mando eyed the room, looking at every face. You presumed he was just trying to keep an eye on things in case anything went awry, but you wanted him to have fun, too.

“Hey, you don’t have to be on high alert like that,” you spoke into his ear closely. It was loud as shit in this place. 

Just as he was about to respond, a waitress approached you wearing a tight red corset and fishnets. You realized then that you had nothing to worry about concerning your own outfit. Her boobs practically spilled out when she bent over to take your drink orders.

Mando gave her your order and sent her on her way, her hips basically swaying to the beat of the music.

He looked back to you and leaned over, “Why here?”

You shrugged your shoulders, “I’ve always wanted to go, but never was allowed to. When I found out one was right down the street, I couldn’t resist.”

“That’s fair,” he hummed as he sat back and continued to watch people.

“Have you been to one before?” you spoke loudly over the music.

He scoffed, “Well, yeah. I’m a single man in my forties.” 

You were about to respond when the waitress dropped your drinks off. She was about to walk away when Mando grabbed her hand to stop her. You weren’t sure what was said, but he handed her something and sent her back to the bar. She came back in a couple of minutes and handed  
Mando two stacks of cash, one of which he handed to you.

“If this is your first time, you might as well get the full experience,” he chuckled. “Don’t spend it all in one song.”

You looked down at the stack of ones and then back to him, confounded. “What do I do with it?”

Mando looked to the stage. “Go up to her and hold up a few bills. She’ll come over to you, maybe kiss you on the neck or something, then you can put it on the stage. Maybe she’ll even let you put it in her g-string,” he smiled looking back to you. 

“I’m so nervous,” you didn’t know why. 

“Don’t be. It’s literally her job,” he chuckled yet again. 

About the time you’d built your courage up, the song stopped. You were halfway to the stage when she began collecting the money that was sitting on the stage. She stepped off and within seconds another woman took her place. 

She was tall without the platform heels, but with the heels, she had to have been over six feet tall. Her hair was long and dark with the ends colored teal blue, and she was covered in tattoos. Her look was very obviously inspired by old Hollywood glamour but with a goth touch. She was even more stunning than the last one, and you were ten times more nervous now. She stood tall and wrapped her hands around the pole. 

As the song started, you recognized it and your cheeks immediately flushed as you looked back at Mando. He shifted around in his seat as Jeremih’s song “Fuck You All The Time,” blasted out of the speakers. The MC had introduced the new dancer as Dahlia, and by the time you turned back around and made it the short distance to the stage you realized that she was no longer in your direct line of sight, but 15 feet in the air, and upside down on the pole. She turned herself back upright effortlessly, and was making slow circles around the pole. Simultaneously with the beat drop, she picked her legs up into a split and loosened her hands enough to free fall down the pole. She tightened her grip just in time for her to land in a split on the stage and her heels to smack the floor. 

You were slightly amazed and quickly pulled some ones out of your stack, reaching your hand out towards the stage. She noticed you almost immediately, crawling towards you across the stage. She turned to the side and pulled the strap of the lacy g-string out, letting your shaky hand place the ones under it. 

She turned to lay on her back with her head in front of you and opened her legs, making her heels smack the stage again, “Thanks, doll,” she smiled at you. 

“Y-you’re welcome,” you stammered as she sat up.

“You’re so nervous,” she giggled. She was standing on her knees in front of you. “Why? I’m not going to bite.” 

You laughed nervously. “My first time here.” You glanced over your shoulder to look at Mando who was watching you closely. 

As you looked back to Dahlia, she was looking over at him as well. “Is that your boyfriend?” 

“Uh, I--uh,” you didn’t know how to respond. 

“He’s staring hard, let’s give him something to look at,” she smiled deviously. She reached behind her back, unhooking her bra slowly to match the beat of the song. She pulled it off, and on instinct you looked at her now bare boobs. 

“Oh, sorry, I don’t mean--” you looked away quickly. 

She grabbed either side of your face directing your stare to hers. “It’s okay. Relax.” 

Dahlia was now moving toward you, her face now in the crook of your neck. Mando had warned you about this. She pulled your hair to the side allowing a better view for him to see her leaving the kisses on your neck, and then she came back up placing her hands on her breasts. 

“Put a couple ones in there,” she looked down between them. 

You were stunned at this point so you simply grabbed a few ones, more than you should have probably, and positioned them on her chest. She pressed her tits together, engulfing your hand between them with a smile. 

She let the bills drop onto the stage and then moved forward a little, placing her hands behind your head and smothering you in her chest. It made you giggle wildly, and you tossed some more ones after she let you come up for air. She smiled and then got on her hands and knees, ass pressed against your body as she grinded to the music. 

You were about to throw some more ones on the stage when you felt a presence behind you. Mando pressed to your back and handed you another drink as his free hand tossed ones on the stage for you.

You took the drink and took a long gulp suddenly realizing you were sexually frustrated. You learned something new about yourself that day. 

Dahlia spotted another customer on the other side of the stage and gave you a big smile before crawling on to the next unsuspecting victim. 

You craned your neck to look up at Mando who looked so smug. 

“You seemed to enjoy that,” he smirked. 

You raised your eyebrows, “Considering the thing that is poking me in the back right now, I would say you also enjoyed it.” You turned around to face him. There was that familiar look. 

“Oh, that’s nothing,” he gave you a half smile looking throughout the crowd. 

“You should get, like, a lap dance or something. Isn’t that what people do at these places?” You questioned. 

“Sometimes. I honestly wouldn’t mind a lap dance,” he was being cocky, and you were kind of shocked he admitted that. You had offered it, but you didn’t think he would take up the offer so fast. 

“Okay, um,” you eyed the room looking at all of the eligible dancers. “Which one do you want?” Your eyes came back to him. He hadn’t stopped looking at you. 

“You,” his hand met your waist. 

“Oh, god, I don’t dance,” you waved your hands in front of you. 

“It doesn’t take much skill, come on,” he was on the brink of whining. He must have had more alcohol than you did. 

“I can’t just, like, do that out here, Mando, that would be taking away business from all these hard working ladies,” you pointed at the sea of strippers around you. 

“Places like this have VIP rooms. I can get us one, and you can show me just how bad of a dancer you are,” now he was begging. 

He grabbed your hand, pulling you towards the stairwell with a guard standing in front of it. Mando said something close to the guy’s ear, you couldn’t hear it. The guard nodded, and Mando slipped him some cash. Then you were walking up the stairs. 

As you neared the top of the staircase, Mando took your hand again and walked you down the long red hallway. There were tons of doors down this corridor, and he promptly opened one up and slipped in with you. You were now in a small room that had a tiny stage with a six foot pole in the middle of it. There was a plush red velvet couch against the wall, and a window looked out over the club. You walked over and looked out at all the different people, the music still blaring even behind this barrier. 

Mando took a seat on the couch, splaying his arms across the top of it. As the song wrapped up, another song started. Tank’s “When We” was now playing through the speakers. At this point, you were pretty sure that your cheeks were the same color as the couch.

“So, about that dance,” he smirked at you. You were still holding your drink from earlier, so you shot the rest and tried to mentally hype yourself up. 

You smoothed your dress and took a deep breath before stepping on the little stage. You wrapped your hands around the cold metal and flung yourself around the pole, trying to remember everything you had ever seen a stripper do in a movie before. You tightened your grip and looked up, preparing yourself to try to hang from the pole. You jumped up, wrapping your legs around as well and did a little spin. You looked over to Mando who had a ridiculous grin on his face. 

You stood back up and leaned against the pole, discouraged by his goofy ass face. 

“I can’t do it, I wasn’t meant to be a stripper,” you shrugged disappointedly. 

Mando didn’t respond, instead he reached in his pocket and pulled out more ones, flinging them onto the ground in front of you. You looked down at the bills and then back at him, not sure what to do. He groaned and threw more up there. 

“You’re expensive, come on,” he said playfully. 

You looked out the window quickly to see what the professionals were doing. You noticed one of the dancers holding on to the pole and bending over. You thought that would be good. 

So you grabbed the pole and turned your back to Mando, trying your best to seductively gaze at him as you did. He was super invested in whatever you were about to do. 

You slowly bent down, keeping your legs straight as you did so. Your dress was so incredibly short, that the slightest movement downward already had you exposed to him, the red lace of your panties peeking at him. You looked through your legs as you stood there bent over to see his eyes clearly fixed on the view of your ass and pussy. You smiled before quickly snapping upward. You were gaining some confidence. 

You looked out again to see what movement you could mirror next. 

You slipped the dress off your shoulders in the best way you could. You kept the heels on. You slowly moved to your knees, and Mando’s lips were slightly parted as he continued to savor the moment. 

You moved into a position where you were situated on your ass, the cool tile of the stage pressed against you. You leaned back on your hands and lifted your legs, spreading them far and wide for Mando’s enjoyment. The drinks were catching up with you because this typically would have been mortifying. 

You could swear that you could almost see Mando’s lip quivering, he was watching with such awe. His eyes were focused solely on the panties that were the only barrier between him and your pussy. You took one hand and ran it down the length of your body, taking your time down the slope of your breast, down your stomach, and finally, achingly slowly down the fabric of your underwear. He looked starved at this point, absolutely ravenous for even an ounce of you. 

“This was supposed to be a lap dance,” he mumbled, barely audible, eyes still on your now astonishingly wet pussy. You loved being adored like this. 

“Give me more money, and I may do just that,” you teased, moving your hand back up your body and bringing your legs down. 

He begrudgingly threw more cash at you and you smiled, stepping forward and straddling his lap. You began slowly rolling your hips in time with the beat of the music, eliciting a groan from Mando. 

His eyes ran deep with lust as they swept over you. He moved his hands to your hips. The heels of your stilettos were digging into your ass cheeks, but it was a pain that made you move more, and made you want more. 

With the next roll of your hips, Mando bent down and captured a nipple in your mouth, swirling his tongue around it devastatingly slow, making a moan escape your slightly parted lips. Your hands were now tangled in his hair, tugging at it. 

With the song change, you decided to change your position as well. You turned around towards the window and placed your legs on either side of Mando’s, and you moved in time with the music. 

At this point, it was hard to ignore the tautness of his jeans and his impossibly hard cock pressing at your entrance. Mando wrapped his hand in your hair, pulling you back towards him. He placed feather soft kisses across the top of your shoulder and towards your neck. When he got to the base of your neck, he moved up just behind your ear. 

His mustache tickled you as he spoke, making goose bumps pop up all over you, “This, I could get used to, angel.” 

You moved away and stood up to face him. You just thought you were turned on before, but now you were pretty sure your panties were drenched. 

You hooked your thumbs in the sides of them, swaying your hips as you slowly pulled them down. You were reveling in the way he was looking at you as if you were the only woman on the face of the earth. It created a warmth in you like none you’d ever felt before. You weren’t sure what it was, but you knew it was a feeling you didn’t want to lose. 

As you slipped back onto his lap, you pulled his shirt off and his lips crashed into yours. He kissed you harder than he’d ever kissed you before. His hands moved over your body and found your breasts, pinching and rolling your nipple. You pulled away to catch your breath and caught his earlobe, nipping at it a little harder than you’d intended to. 

His hand left your breast and traveled down your belly until his fingers reached your swollen clit. He began to work circles around you, making you grind your hips harder. 

He practically moaned your name, “You’re so fucking wet.” He pulled his fingers away and put them in his mouth, tasting you. 

He picked you up and turned around, placing you on the plush couch. He positioned himself between your thighs. As he bent his head lower, you wrapped your legs around his shoulders letting your heels dig into his back. His tongue swept over your folds fervently as you let out a loud moan. 

This was different than the times before. He usually took his time, but tonight he wanted you as badly as you wanted him. There was a sense of urgency, like he just couldn’t get enough of you. You looked down at him and watched as his tongue made contact with your swollen mound. You threw your head back, and raised your hips to him, grinding yourself against his tongue. 

“I want you to cum for me, angel,” and with that he pushed two fingers into your entrance stroking your g-spot over and over again. 

Jesus, the things this man did to you. You could feel your release building quickly, and you knew it was coming fast and hard. 

With the next flick of his tongue, your world shattered around you. Your walls constricted his fingers and quaked, but you wanted more. 

“M-m-mando,” you rasped, “f-fuck me, please.” You found it hard to speak through the end of your orgasm, stuttering slightly. 

He moved with an eagerness that was unfounded. He unbuttoned his pants and pulled them and his boxers down at the same time, freeing his thick cock. 

“Turn over,” he said stepping toward the couch, and you obliged all too quickly. Your knees were positioned to where one was in the back of the couch and the other at the edge. Your back was arched more than you thought possible, presenting your dripping cunt to him. 

He got behind you and you felt the head of his dick push into you, filling you up completely. 

“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to take this slow,” he said, as he smacked your ass hard. You’re pretty sure he left a handprint on you. 

“I don’t want you to,” you said looking back over your shoulder at him. He was buried in your warmth impossibly deep. 

He pulled his hips back and thrust back into you, hard. You moaned loudly, “Fuck, you feel good.” 

That was all the encouragement he needed. His rhythm was deep and hard, skirting the thin line between pleasure and pain. His hand wrapped into your hair and pulled.

With each thrust, his balls made contact with your clit, driving you absolutely crazy. Deciding this wasn’t enough, his hands grabbed your waist and pulled you back into him to meet each snap of his hips. 

His breathing quickened and you knew he was getting close to his release. You reached your hand down and began working your own clit. 

The realization of what was happening hit Mando and you felt that all too familiar twitch inside of you. Your orgasm blindsided you, coming out of nowhere. Your walls squeezed his dick impossibly hard making cum shoot out of him. As you both rode out your climax together, you couldn’t help but moan his name. 

“Holy shit,” he said your name, out of breath. He planted a kiss on your back before he pulled out of you and collapsed back on the couch. His cum trickled out of you and down your leg. 

When you’d gathered the strength and will to move, you turned and laid on top of him, placing your head in the crook of his neck. His arm wrapped around you as if it was just instinct by now. That warm tingly feeling had grown even bigger than it was earlier. 

You placed a kiss on his chest, as your fingers toyed with the short tuft of hair below his belly button. He never fails to surprise you. You’d never felt so content before in your life. You were truly happy with this man, and your heart swelled with realization. 

You had fallen in love with a nameless man. 

How could you have let yourself do something so stupid? Though you had found yourself doing a lot of stupid things in the recent past, this took the cake. This was the most dangerous, most irrational thing that you could have ever let happen to you. The attraction was undeniable, but the blanket of comfort and the never ending joy that came with his presence was just palpable. But, God, were you an idiot for ever letting it happen.

You sat up quickly, needing to abandon the situation as fast as possible. You thought fast. “I need to go to the restroom to freshen up. Meet me downstairs?”

“Uh, sure,” he said, baffled at your haste to get dressed. 

You got dressed faster than you ever had before, and made your way down the stairs leaving Mando still pulling his shirt over his head. 

You hit the restroom, reapplied your lipstick to your now swollen lips and fixed your hair. Your ponytail wasn’t so slick anymore. You grabbed some toilet paper and cleaned your lower half. You looked in the mirror again, taking deep breaths, trying to decide how to handle yourself now that you had realized that you were stupidly in love. Maybe you could ignore it? Try to act the same? But that would have been nearly impossible considering the way your chest, your brain, and the rest of you felt now when you saw Mando. You would figure it out soon enough. Some small part of you wondered if he felt the same, though. 

When you stepped out, he was at the bar not looking in your direction. You remembered seeing the sex shop across the hall, and decided it wouldn’t hurt if you walked over there and browsed. You may come across a new set of lingerie you had to have. 

When you reached for the handle of the shop, you felt something hard and cold press into your spine. An unfamiliar hand grabbed your arm as the voice in your ear calmly said, “Keep quiet. You make a sound, and it won’t end well.” 

You gulped and walked in the direction the unfamiliar man steered you. Mando was going to be so fucking pissed at you.


	11. Promises

Mando signed the ticket on the tab, leaving a decent tip. As he handed it back to the bartender he couldn’t help but wonder what was taking so long. 

He found a bouncer near the entrance, “Hey have you seen a woman about this tall?” he held his hand up indicating how tall you were. “She had on a low backed dress, tall heels, and her hair was pulled up. She said she was going to the bathroom, but it's been about 15 minutes since I’ve seen her.”

The bouncer shrugged his shoulders, “Lots of women like that come and go here, buddy. Looks like you might have gotten ditched.”

Mando huffed in frustration ignoring the slight of the bouncer. He looked around the room, his forehead wrinkled in frustration. He couldn’t see her in the crowd, and he was sure she wasn’t in the bathroom. He had cracked the door open and called her name to no avail. He was trying to keep himself calm, but he was already anticipating the worst. 

He turned his head and noticed a small sex shop conjoined to the club. He hastily walked down and entered, scouring the room for her. He couldn’t see her in the small area, and she should have stuck out amongst the small crowd if she were, so he was even closer to nearing panic mode. But he had to be collected, and he had to be logical and just simply find her. He was good at that, he was raised to do that. 

He calmly walked over to the woman standing behind the counter. 

“Excuse me, ma’am, did you see a woman in here in a short black dress, hair pulled up, tall heels? She had on red lipstick,” he did his best to paint the clearest picture hoping for the best. 

She thought to herself for a moment and then gave a small gasp, “Oh, yeah! She was about to walk in here. I guess her boyfriend stopped her because she didn’t even make it in the door before they walked away. He was, like, weirdly close to her. Must have been drunk.” 

Mando’s head was going to split. “Which way did they go?” 

“Uh, I think they went that way?” She pointed to the left.

“How sure of that are you?” He was being a little too aggressive.

“Dude, chill, I’m fairly certain,” she threw up her hands, “You’re fucking weird, I probably shouldn’t have even told you that.”

Mando turned on his heel, bolting out the door. He took a sharp left and relied on his instincts. 

“Where are you taking me?” you asked quietly as to not rouse any of the people walking by you and this stranger. You hadn’t even looked back at him yet. 

“Shut up, don’t talk,” he spat back, the supposed gun still pressed firmly into your back. 

You were struggling to walk at his preferred pace in your heels, and you were trying to keep your face neutral. You couldn’t believe this happened, you had always thought that Mando was overreacting when he would warn you about being alone. You never thought you would see the threat come to fruition. 

He was leading you down the populated street, staying close enough that no one would suspect anything. He was pushing you toward a nearby casino-hotel. 

“When we get in this hotel, don’t say a word. If you scream, you will regret it. Unfortunately, you’re worth more alive than you are dead,” the voice was deep and gravelly in your ear. And you realized what this was.

This wasn’t one of Traeger’s men. He was a random man who recognized you from the news. You had practically stopped watching the news altogether, so you thought that the hype had just died down, but this man was dead set on returning you. So much so that he would hold you at gunpoint. 

You were nearing the entrance of the casino, and he quickly lowered the gun, tucking it away in his waistband. 

“Just because I put the gun away, doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you,” he whispered as you entered the threshold to the establishment. He had a rough arm wrapped around your waist as he continued to guide you through the hordes of people on their merry way. You were proud of yourself for keeping it together like you were, but, God, were you hoping that Mando would show up any second. 

He aggressively led you both to the elevators and pressed the up arrow. While waiting for the doors to open, you slowly strained your neck behind you looking for any signs of Mando. The man rattled you hard, prompting you to continue looking forward. 

“He’s not going to come save you, princess,” he gave an evil laugh as the elevator dinged, and he pushed you forward. 

He hit the button for the ninth floor, and the doors slowly pressed together, closing before you had any chance of alerting someone, anyone that you were in danger. The panic was starting to really set in, the heat rising from your belly up to your face. 

Your body shook from the jolt of the elevator coming to a stop, the doors opening up to the hallway. He essentially pushed you out of the elevator and guided you down the hall to his room. He let go of you with one hand as he reached into his back pocket for the room key tightening his grip and pressing you into the doorframe to keep you from being able to move. He swiped the card and the door flung open. He shoved you inside shutting the door behind him with his foot. He grabbed some rope off the table and threw you into the bed, still holding onto one arm as he started tying you to the bed. You were trying to stay calm but you couldn’t help but squirm and try to fight him knowing that you couldn’t scream out or there would be consequences that you were not ready to face. 

“Fuck dude, you are hurting me! Is this really necessary?” you urged him, your eyes falling to the ropes. You pleaded with him not to tie you up. You promised to not try and run, but he absolutely refused,  
continuously telling you to shut up. He seemed nervous himself. Must have been his first kidnapping. 

You’d had full confidence that Mando was already on your trail and all you had to do was trust him and wait it out. But you were starting to doubt yourself. The only thing keeping your mind somewhat clear was that this jerk had already made it evident to you that you were worth more alive than dead. 

“Cara, she’s been taken, I got an idea where she is, but I need you to handle the guy discreetly,” Mando spoke into the receiver of the payphone, trying to keep a low profile on the public street. 

“‘Taken? How?” Cara was thoroughly confused. Mando never let those he wanted to protect, targets usually, out of his site. 

“We went out, and I let her go to the bathroom alone. She tried to pull some shit and go somewhere else, too, and I think she got taken,” Mando rubbed at his temple. 

“Why would you let her venture out alone, Mando?” Cara was now just pissed. 

“I was in the same room as her. Did you expect me to follow her into the bathroom? I don’t know what I was thinking, agreeing to go out. We had been drinking, I don’t know. I’m pissed, and I want to get her back now. Can you come to the casino? I think she’s there if I’m tracing the steps correctly,” he pleaded.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in ten,” Cara sighed. 

Mando was on high alert waiting for Cara’s arrival. She eventually showed up, and he wasted no time walking through the door. 

“Should we try to do this on our own? Or try to pry information?” Cara looked up at Mando. They pushed through people to get through as quickly as possible. They were not concerned about being polite. 

“It’s a hotel. We should be able to do this ourselves,” he basically scoffed. 

“I mean, how do you know she’s here?”

“Lady at the club said the guy was leading her this way. Most practical place to start,” he stayed straight forward, completely focused. 

“Okay, so where do we start here? Ground floor up, top to bottom, or start in the parking garage then work through the hotel?” Cara inquired, trying to keep up with his pace.

Mando abruptly stopped. His eyes were focused on the woman standing at the check in desk near the hotel elevators. She was a young girl, and she was staring at him with absolute “fuck me” eyes. 

“Hold on, this will be easy,” he left Cara alone and made his way to the young girl. 

He walked up and leaned on the counter. “Hey, how are you doing tonight?”

“I’m good,” she responded with a southern drawl, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as she smiled. “What can I help you with, sir?”

“Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I am looking for a friend of mine. She came in here with a guy who she absolutely shouldn’t be with,” he was turning the charm way up. He glanced back at Cara. “That lady over there, that’s her girlfriend, so we gotta get her out of there as soon as we can.” 

She tilted her head back as she listened, giving him an understanding “oh.”

“We think they walked through here to get to the room, would that be the case?” Mando asked.

“If they went to a room, yeah, they would have to pass through here,” she leaned forward more, trying to get more flirty with her body language. “What does your friend look like? I have been here for a while this evening.”

He gave her the description, and she perked up. “Yeah, I definitely saw her with that guy. She honestly didn’t look like she wanted to be there.” 

Mando flexed his hand in a fist, knuckles turning white. 

“Listen,” he moved further still, voice hushed. “Could you possibly tell me where they went? Like the room?”

The girl looked nervous, eyes darting around the lobby. “It’s against protocol for me to do that. Breach of privacy.”

“I know, I know, but we really need to get to her girlfriend. It would be such a tremendous help...,” he glanced down at her nametag, making sure to say her name in his best bedroom voice, “Taylor.” 

She seemed to melt at the sound of her own name from his mouth. “Okay. Under one condition.”

Mando was growing more annoyed by the moment. “What’s that?”

“Give me your number,” she said as she slipped a small notepad toward him with a ballpoint pen on top. 

He sighed lightly to himself, pulling the stationery towards him. He scribbled a fake number down on the paper, and wrote a fake name on it. 

“There you go,” he feigned a smile. “Can you get that info for me now?”

She excitedly took the paper and started walking toward the computer, “Yes, sir.” 

Mando stood there waiting while she seemingly sifted through some security footage. Cara was standing nearer now, arms crossed. She obviously had better things to do. 

“Looks like they’re on the ninth floor,” she squinted, leaning in to look at the screen closer, “I think they went in room 918.” 

“Perfect, thank you so much,” he looked around to make sure no one was watching. “Think you could make me a key?”

She hesitated for a long time before sighing and grabbing the plastic card and swiping it through a magnetic control and punching a few buttons. “There,” she quickly set it down. 

“Thanks again,” he winked then gestured for Cara to come forward, and they made their way to the elevators. 

“I’ll call you when I get off,” the young girl called to him, a little to enthusiastically. He ignored her. 

Mando and Cara stepped into the elevator, and he jabbed the ninth floor button. 

“How did you get that so quick?” Cara said. “I know it wasn’t the charm you lack so much.” 

Mando stared forward, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Do you think it’s one of the Schulz guys?” Cara continued. 

“No, they wouldn’t be this sloppy. Got to be a random person trying to get some money.” 

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. 

“Let’s go,” Mando reached under his jacket pulling out his gun, Cara doing the same. 

They walked stealthily down the hall acutely quiet. As they neared the door to the room, Mando and Cara pressed their backs to the walls on either side of the door, closely listening in. 

They could hear her trying to bargain with the clearly nervous man. 

“If you let me go, I can double whatever they’re offering the public,” she sounded collected, but Mando knew she was freaking out. 

“Just stop, stop it, I’m not letting you go,” the guy said to her in frustration. 

Mando and Cara made eye contact and both nodded. He took the key card in one hand, and slowly, stealthily slipped it into the slot. Once he pulled it out the door unlocked. Cara quickly grabbed the doorknob, turning it and barged into the room, gun pointed straight at the stranger. 

By sheer luck or maybe a miracle, the stranger’s gun was on the drawer near the door, so as Cara moved forth to grab the stranger in a chokehold, Mando quickly grabbed the gun and shoved it in his waistband. The stranger was flailing in the grip of Cara and trying and failing miserably to fight back against her. Mando moved further into the room, a second gun now locked and loaded on him.

“What the fuck is this!? Let me go! Are you the fucking cops?” he was being entirely too loud. 

Cara’s knuckles made a loud, cracking impact against the man’s jaw as she retorted, “Shut the fuck up, loser.” She promptly shoved her law enforcement identification in his line of vision. “All the documentation you need, you piece of shit.” 

Mando walked forward to the guy who was now slumped in Cara’s arms trying to come back to coherency. 

“Who sent you?” Mando asked aggressively, so much power in his tone.

“What the fu--” the guy tried, but Mando reared back and let another punch fly. This one made a horrifying crunch and blood started pouring from his now crooked nose. 

“I said, who sent you?” he was louder, feral even. Mando’s hand wrapped around the man’s chin, forcing him to look at Mando in the eyes. 

“No one,” the guy said whilst sputtering blood from his mouth. “I saw her on the news, they’re offering rewards for her.” He was trying to speak quickly, trying to do anything to make this stop. 

Mando was looking down at him, gun pointed at his temple. He met eyes with Cara. 

“Do you buy it?” She asked.

He looked back down at the pathetic man. “Have you called them? And don’t fucking lie, I swear to God if you lie, I will know, and I will kill you.” 

The guy desperately spewed all the information he had. “No, no, I didn’t. The only reason I haven’t yet is because I can’t find the number, please.” 

He looked back at Cara for a moment. “Handle him for me?”

“Oh, fuck yeah. I mean, he’s got at least a federal count of kidnapping on him,” Cara scoffed. 

“Good,” he nodded, taking the gun from his head. Cara started to drag him away, and Mando, though he didn’t want to look, turned around to see the woman he loved stunned, in complete and utter shock, completely silent, and bound to the bed. 

“Oh,” he whispered your name. He rushed over and began untying the knots. “Fuck, how long did he have you here?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” she said so quietly.

“Did you see him make any calls? Did he hurt you?” 

“No.”

He was working fast to get her undone, he could hear all the spirit in her voice gone. He could see how scared she was. He felt like he had failed her. 

He kept mumbling her name as he finally undid the last knot. “I’m so sorry.” He quickly sat on the bed, scooping her up in his arms and holding her as close as he possibly could. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

She wasn’t crying, just very tense. She was like a boulder in his arms, all the muscles in her body completely constricted. 

“I’m sorry. I know you must be so pissed at me, but I didn’t mean for this to happen. It’s all my fault,” he could hear her saying as composed as the day he met her, muffled against his chest. He pulled back from her. 

“What?” He was frowning. Mostly out of confusion.

“Just tell me now what you’re going to do, just get it over with,” she sighed. 

He said her name firmly, “What are you talking about?”

“Like if you are going to leave me or punish me or something, just tell me now,” her face unsettlingly blank as she spoke. 

“Why would I do that?” He was dumbfounded as to why she could ever think that anything other than her safety would be on his mind at this very moment.

And then he remembered her past. 

“I know you’re mad at me for going off on my own. I get it,” she was looking at him, but it felt like she was really just looking through him.

He said her name one more time. “I am not mad at you. I don’t blame you. None of this is your fault, you realize that right?”

She shook her head, “I went against what you told me to do even though I knew that I shouldn’t have.”

“I don’t care about that. I care about the fact that you are right here in front of me, breathing and warm. That is what I care about.” He reached a hand out, pressing it to her thigh. “I am the one who is sorry. I am the one who should be the subject of anger. I let you down.”

Her face was beginning to soften, but it was quickly morphing into one of confusion as well. 

“What do you mean you aren’t mad at me? That makes no sense,” her shoulders slumped as she tried to wrap her head around the concept of not being punished. 

“Exactly that. I’m not mad at you, but I hope that you will forgive me and that you will be more apt to stay by my side as often as possible,” he calmly explained. 

She looked at the floor, all the tenseness in her body subsiding quickly. “I’m just not….not used to that.” 

“To what?” Mando shifted in his spot. 

“To not being on the receiving end of fury when something, anything really, goes wrong whether it's my fault or not,” she raised a finger to her mouth, nervously chewing on a nail. 

Mando sighed, completely hurt by this. He felt like he had failed on many levels, not just in keeping her safe. Maybe her trauma ran too deep for her to ever organically realize that he wouldn’t treat her the way she had been in the past, but he had hoped that she would know that at this point. He hadn’t done a good job. 

“I will never hurt you. I will never let you get this close to danger again. I made a promise to get you to safety, and this isn’t a good look right now, but I promise from this point on, you will never ever have to feel this way again. You’re strong,” he tried again to comfort her, pulling her back to his lap. She was situated on his legs, gazing up at him. 

“I’m really not. If I were, then I wouldn’t have let myself get to this point to begin with. I should have done something when I was younger, anything to avoid this,” she was finally lax in his arms. 

“You had no control over that. Things are going to change for the better, I promise,” he pulled her closer, lips pressing to her scalp. “I promise.”

He was running his hands reassuringly up and down her back, as she buried her face in his neck. Silent tears slipped down her face, landing on his collar bone. She took time to compose herself before picking her head up and meeting his gaze.

Her eyes searched his weary face. For what he wasn’t sure. He opened his mouth to say something, but before Mando could speak his next thought her lips met his. This wasn’t one of the rushed, needy kisses they usually shared. It could have almost been described as innocent. She wasn’t looking for anything else to materialize from this kiss, although it was passionate. As quickly as she’d initiated it, she chose to pull away and bury her face back in his neck.

There was something on her mind that she wanted to say, but Mando didn’t want to pry. He was sure that she would tell him when she was ready, but he couldn’t help the onslaught of thoughts floating around in the back of his head though. He knew that he loved her, but he also knew that the only reason they’d met was because her piece of shit husband hired him to find her. How was he supposed to tell her that? He didn’t deserve to love her. He was not worthy of her love either.

His cheek was pressed against her hair as he just enjoyed her presence, her energy. He took in her smell, everything about her, trying his best to commit it to his memory. Her breathing was uneven, as if she was trying to formulate the perfect way to say whatever was plaguing her thoughts so intensely. 

“What’s on your mind?” He spoke against her scalp, sounds muffled. 

“Nothing,” she dismissed him quickly, but he simply knew it wasn’t true. Though he was trying not to be pushy, he had to know. 

He pulled her face up to look at his. “The look on your face tells me it’s not nothing, angel. You can tell me whatever it is.”

Her eyes darted away from his, looking at the floor. She threw her hands up in frustration, “It's going to make me sound crazy, and I really don’t want to sound crazy. I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did and I-I just don't know-” she huffed out a breath, “I just don’t know why it did or how to tell you.”

Mando pulled her gaze back to his. He already had a feeling where this was going, but he needed to hear her say it. He needed the confirmation so that he could figure out what to do next. Mando calmly said her name, “Just tell me what’s going on. We can figure it out together.”

Her eyes darted to the side, avoiding his own. The words that came out of her mouth were so quiet, they were almost inaudible. “I love you.” It was the faintest whisper he had ever heard before. Three simple words that stabbed him right in the gut. 

Her gaze drifted back to his face, searching for any inkling of a response to what she had just said to him.

How in the fuck had he let this happen? What the hell was he going to do to fix this and avoid hurting her? She damn sure didn’t deserve anymore pain after everything she had been through.

So, he made a rash decision. He did the only thing that made sense in that singular moment. He reverted to what he’d been taught practically his whole life. 

He didn’t say anything. He kept his mouth closed and looked at her without an ounce of feeling on his face. He didn’t let the plethora of thoughts and feelings on the subject leave the little box in his brain where he tried tirelessly to stow them away. He could have told her he felt the same; he could have told her any time he sees her smile, his chest swells with happiness. He could have told her that when he thought that she could have been hurt or dead or in any way gone from his life that he was crushed, heartbroken. He could have told her that he irrationally, stupidly, and nonsensically loved her, too.

But he didn’t. And he wouldn’t. It was better that way. 

She blinked at him, starting to realize that he wasn’t going to reply. She interpreted his silence as rejection, and the natural reaction that ensued was one that made Mando feel an unrecognizable pain. After a few moments of the most awful silence either of them had ever experienced, she got off of him, stood, sniffled and tried to compose herself.

“Let’s go back to the hotel,” she was so disturbingly quiet. She walked toward the door, and Mando was unsure of what to do next. The man who always had a plan, who always was at the peak of strategic impeccability, was at a loss. 

But he followed her. And they walked toward an uncertain future.


End file.
